LIBRARY QF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



lAV OO ^QOl 



FIRST LESSONS 



AGRICULTURE 



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F. A. GULLEY, M. S. 

Professor of Agriculture in Agricultural College of Mississippi. 



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Published and Copyrighted by the Author. 



'^' MAY 2^3 1887' 



AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 

STARKVILLE, MISS. 
1887. 



PREFACE. 



In 1885 the Board of Trustees of the Agricultural 
College, of Mississippi, instructed its President to devise 
some means for giving instruction in Agriculture to 
students in the preparatory class. In accordance with 
the request of President, S. D. Lee, the author prepared 
the first draft of this work, and had a sufiicient number 
of papyrograph copies struck off to supply the members 
of the preparatory class of 1886. The students evinced 
so much interest in the study that the author felt 
encouraged to revise the mattter, and to have it published 
in book form for further use. 

The writer has aimed to discuss the more important 
principles which underlie agriculture in a plain, simple 
way, within the comprehension of students who have not 
studied chemistry, botany, and the other branches of 
science closely related to this industr^^ 

The subject of every chapter is of such importance, 
and covers so much ground, that it could be fairly dis- 
cussed only in a volume by itself; hence in this little 
book, but a few points are touched upon. After some 
years of experience in the instruction of college classes, 
the author has concluded that impressing facts upon 
students is of minor importance when compared with 
awakening interest, in the stud}^ of agriculture ; and this 
book has been prepared in compliance with that view. 

It is believed that the practical farmer may receive 
suggestions from this work that will be of value to him. 
It may incline him to study the laws of nature with 
greater interest, and may lead him to make better use of 
the knowledge gained from those scientific investigations 
that pertain to the treatment of the soil for the purpose 
of securing larger returns in crop. 



IV PREFACE. 

Not aiming to present a scientific treatise or even a 
work of reference for advanced students, the author has 
drawn material from all sources at his command, without 
referring to, or quoting directly from authors, in the text 
of the book. It was believed that the book would be more 
satisfactory if the matter was presented in a more condensed 
and simple form than is desirable in a complete work of 
standard character. Material has been collected from 
Johnson's "How Crops Feed and How Crops Grow," 
"Physiological Botany," — Goodale. "The Chemistry of 
the Farm," — Warrington. " Manual of Cattle Feeding," 
— Amsby. "Talks on Manures," — Harris. "Elementary 
Principles of Scientific Agriculture," — Lupton. "The 
Science of Agriculture," — ly. Loyd. "Stock-breeding," — 
Miles. "Draining for Profit and Health," — Waring. Bul- 
letins of the Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and North 
Carolina Experiment Stations. 

The above works are recommended for a further study 
of the topics briefly discussed in this little book. 

Fearing that a few of the terms necessarily used to 
convey a technical meaning may be unfamiliar to a portion 
of my readers, a glossary explaining the meaning of some 
of them will be found in an appendix. 

I am indebted to Dr. W. J. Beal and Dr. R. C. Kedzie 
of the Michigan Agricultural College, and to President 
S. D. Lee, and my colleagues Professors, D. L. Phares, 
J. A. Myers, and W. H. Magruder, of the Mississippi Agri- 
cultural College, for many valuable suggestions, also to 
Mr. N. D. Guerry of Artesia, Miss. 

I am under a special obligation to Professor Magruder 
for help in preparing the matter for publication, and I 
have also been materially aided by my assistants, Mr. J. J. 
Huggins and Mr. W. W. Hoskins. 

F. A. GULLKY. 

Agricultural College, Miss. 
April 1887. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Composition of Matter. 
Elementary substances. — Combinations of elementary sub- 
stances. — List of elements. — Elementary substances of 
interest to the farmer. — The Atmosphere. — Chemical 
combination. 

CHAPTER II. 
Origin and Formation of Soils. 
Rock Formation. — Conversion of rock into soil. — Mechanical 
and Chemical decomposition. — Organic and inorganic 
matter. 

CHAPTER III. 
Composition of the Soil. 
Classification of soils. — Heavy soils. — Light soils. — Fertile 
soils. — Productiveness. — Condition of elements required 
to support plant growth. — Rendering soil elements 
available. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Composition of the Plant. 

Requirements of the plant. — Elements found in plants. — 

Enriching the soil. — Exhausting the soil. — What should 

be sold from the farm. — Natural restoration of the soil. 

CHAPTER V. 
Plant Food in the Soil. 
Support of the plant. — Feitile soils.— Why new land is pro- 
ductive. — Retaining fertility. — Value of Natural fertility. 



Vi CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Mechanical Condition of the Soil. 
Effect of compact soil on the plant food contained. — Fertil- 
izers. — How to improve drainage. — Shallow and deep 
cultivation. — Fall plowing. — Treatment of sandy soils. 
Muck and prairie soils. 

CHAPTER VII. 
Effect of Water on the Soil and Crop. 
Absorption of water by the plant. — Water in the soil. — In- 
fluence of wet soil on crops. — Drainage. 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Farm Drainage. 
Supply of Water for Plants. — Advantages derived from 
drainage. — Protection from drought. — Kinds of drainage. 
— Tile drains versus open ditches. — Hillside ditches. — 
Terraces. — Horizontal cultivation. — Construction of hill- 
side ditches. — Drainage ditches. — How to make a level. — 
Leveling for ditches. — Making the ditch. 

CHAPTER IX. 
Preparing the Land for the Crop. 
Preparation of the soil. — Plowing. — Large implements. — Deep 
plowing. — Thorough preparation. — Planting on ridges — 
Value of drainage. 

CHAPTER X. 
How Plants Grow. 
The ripening of the seed. — The annual. — The perennial. — 
Reproduction of the plant. — Sprouting of the seed. — 
Assimilation of food. — Functions of the roots and leaves. 
Material drawn from the soil — From the atmosphere. — 
Source of nitrogen. — Composition of fertilizers. 



CONTENTS. Vll 

CHAPTER XI. 

Fertilization of the Seed. 
Development of the seed. — Structure of the perfect flower. — 
The stamens and pistils. — Impregnation of the pistil. — 
Imperfect flowers. — Fertilization of the flower in corn. — 
Cross fertilization — Mixing of varieties. — Propogation by 
budding, grafting, and from cuttings. 

CHAPTER XII. 
Improvement of Variety. 
Natural varieties. — Improved varieties of plants and animals, 
the Selection. — Individual variation. — Cross breeding. — 
Improvement of corn. — Cross fertilization of perfect flowers. 
— Improvement of grain — Retaining improvement. 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Cultivation of the Crop. 
Object of cultivation. — Preparation before planting. — Good 
plowing. — Depth of cultivation.— Fall plowing. — Cultiva- 
tion of corn. — Shallow and deep hilling. — Turn plow 
cultivation. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Manures. 
What is meant by manure. —The value of manure. — Value 
of food and excrements for fertilizer. — Nutritive and 
manurial value. — Variation in value of manure from 
different animals. — How to retain fertility. — Liquid 
excrement. — Waste products. — Manure on good and on 
poor land. 

CHAPTER XV. 
Commercial Fertilizer. 
Composition of fertilizers. — Land plaster — Guano. — Materials 
from which fertilizers are made. — Phosphates. — Kainit. — 
Nitrate of Soda. — Value of fertilizers — Fertilizer laws. — 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

Value of guano. — Bones — Kainit — Acid Phosphate. — 
Cotton seed meal. — Standard fertilizer. — Value of cotton 
seed. — Barn-yard manure. — Lime. — Special manures. 
Quantity to apply. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Care of Manure-Composting. 

Stable Manure. — Fresh Manure — Solubility. — Litter. — Com- 
posting when desirable. — Comparative value of stable 
manure and concentrated fertilizers. — Care of. — Time to 
apply. — How to apply. — Top dressing. — Plowing under. — 
Hill applications. — Plan followed by author. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Rotation of Crops. 

Effect of rotation. — Why rotation is desirable. — Difference in 
assimilation —Root growth — Material left in soil. — Density 
of foliage. — Red clover. — Cow pea. — Value of roots. — 
Rotations. — Other advantages. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Farm Live Stock. 

Origin.— Wild and domestic animals.— Wild state —Natural 
variation. — Race qualities. — Peculiarities of breeds. — 
Breed defined. — Formation of a breed. — Improvement. — 
Retention of qualities. — Prepotency. — How to improve 
common stock. — Effect of neglect. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Diversified Farming. 

Special farming. — Diversified farming — Advantage of diver- 
sified farming. — When most desirable. — Saving in labor. 
— Cost of plant food. — Returns from animal products. — 
Cheap sources of plant food. — Conclusions, 



CONTENTS. IX 

CHAPTER XX. 

Food and Manure Value of Crops 

Nutritive value. — What food is converted into. — Digestibility. 
— Animal waste — Value of some knowledge of chemistry. 
— Selling fertility. — Farming by rule. — Effect on the farm 
of feeding the crops grown. — Table of manure values of 
feeding stuffs —Losses in feeding.— Market value vs. feeding 
value. — Value of permanent meadows and pastures. 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Composition of Matter, . . - - i — 7 

Origin and Formation of Soils, - - - 8 — 10 

Composition of the Soil, - - . . n — 13 

Composition of the Plant, _ . . 14 — 17 

Plant Food in the Soil, . . - . 18—21 

Mechanical Condition of the Soil, - - 22 — 25 

Effect of Water on the Soil and Crop, - - 26 — 28 

Farm Drainage, ----- 29 — 36 

Preparing the Land for the Crop, - - - 37 — 40 

How Plants Grow, . - . - 41 — 45 

Fertilization of the Seed, - - . - 46 — 49 

Improvement of Variety, - - - - 50—55 

Cultivation of the Crop, . _ - - 56 — 59 

Manures, ..-..- 60—65 

Commercial Fertilizers, . . . - 66 — 73 

Care of and Composting of Manures, - - 74 — 80 

Rotation of Crops, ----- 81 — 84 

Farm Live Stock, ----- 85 — 92 

Diversified Farming, ----- 93 — 98 

Food and Manure Value of Farm Products, - 99 — 106 



CHAPTER I. 

Composition of Matter. 

Elementary Si tb stance s. — Combinations of Elementary 
Substances. — List of Elements. — Elementary 
Substances of Interest to the Farmer. — The 
Atmosphere. — Lime. — Chemical Combination. 

1. The Science of Chemistry teaches that all 
perceptible matter — the soil, the plant, water, the air 
we breathe — is made up of combinations of what 
are called elements. 

2. An Element is the simplest form of matter. It 
can not be subdivided or split into parts composed of 
different substances. It can not be destroyed ; but it 
will readily combine with, or attach itself to other 
elements, from which it may again be separated. 

3. Something more than sixty-five elementary 
substances have been discovered or separated from 
their combinations with other elements, and their 
qualities and peculiarities studied and determined. 

4. Elementary substances are not often found in 
uncombined forms, owing to the affinity which they 
have for one another. This attraction causes them to 



2 COMPOSITION OF MATTER. 

form an endless variety of combinations, producing 
an almost infinite number of substances. 

5. The elements, simple or combined, are found 
in three forms; solids, liquids, and gases — which 
forms are not permanent, since changes of tempera- 
ture will cause most substances to appear in all three 
forms. For example: water, a liquid at ordinary 
temperatures, becomes ice, a solid, if reduced to a 
temperature of 32° Fah., and it becomes steam, an 
invisible gas or vapor, if heated to 212°. The ice 
upon being warmed, loses its solidity and becomes 
water again ; while steam is again visible as a liquid 
if allowed to become cool.* In like manner the 
metals, iron, lead, copper, etc. , as well as the soil and 
rocks, which are solids at ordinary temperature, may 
be made to pass into the liquid and gaseous forms by 
applying sufficient heat. 

6. Wood or vegetable matter, is not melted by 
the application of moderate heat, but part of the ele- 
ments of which it is composed is driven off as gases, 
and the ashes or earthy matter left may be converted 
into the liquid and gaseous forms by intense heating. 



■■•= When steam escapes from the boiler into the air it can be seen ; but it is 
no longer in the vapor form, having cooled into minute drops of vv^ater. If 
water is boiled in a glass flask or bottle no steam is visible until it escapes 
and meets the cooler atmosphere. 



COMPOSITION OF MATTER. 



7. The following elements have been separated 
and named 



Aluminum 

Antimony 

Arsenic 

Barium 

Beryllium 

Bismuth 

Boron 

Bromine 

Cadmium 

Caesium 

Calcium 

Carbon 

Cerium 

Chlorine 

Chromium 

Cobalt 

Copper 

Didymium 

Erbium 

Fluorine 

Gallium 



Gold 

Hydrogen 

Indium 

Iodine 

Iridium 

Iron 

Lanthanum 

Lead 

Lithium 

Magnesium 

Manganese 

Mercury 

Molybdenum 

Nickel 

Niobium 

Nitrogen 

Osmium 

Oxygen 

Palladium 

Phosphorus 

Platinum 



Potassium 

Rhodium 

Ruthenium 

Selenium 

Silver 

Silicon 

Sodium 

Strontium 

Sulphur 

Tantalum 

Tellurium 

Thallium 

Thorium 

Tin 

Titanium 

Tungsten 

Uranium 

Vanadium 

Yttrium 

Zinc 

Zirconium 



8. Less than one-fourth of these elements are 
known to have any influence on the soil or the plant, 
from an agricultural stand- point; but the list is given 
to enable the student or the reader to refer to it, if 
desired. 



4 COMPOSITION OF MATTER. 

9. The student of agriculture is concerned with 
but fourteen or fifteen of the elementary substances, 
as from these are formed the animal, the plant, and 
the soil constituents that enter into the composition 
of the animal and plant. 

Plants are composed of : 

NON-METALS : METALS I 

Oxygen Potassium 

Hydrogen '^ Sodium 

Nitrogen Calcium 

Carbon Magnesium 

Sulphur Iron 

Phosphorus -silicon, chlorine and sodium 

''^ Silicon ^^^ "^^ b^li^ved to be essential 

to plant growth although found 
* Chlorine in most plants. 

Besides the above. Aluminium, Manganese, Iodine, 
and some others are found in minute quantities in 
plants, but are not supposed to be necessary to their 
development. 

10. The atmosphere, or air we breathe, is com- 
posed principally of two elements in the gaseous 
form, Oxygen and Nitrogen : four parts of Nitrogen 
to one part of Oxygen. Oxygen and Nitrogen are 
invisible at ordinary temperatures, either when alone, 
or when mixed, as in the atmosphere, yet they 
will change to liquids, if subjected to intense cold. 
They may be found in nature combined with other 
elements in the liquid and solid form. 



COMPOSITION OF MATTER. 5 

11. Pure water is a chemical combination of oxy- 
gen and hydrogen, both of which will assume the 
gaseo'as form if separated. 

12. Limestone, a hard and widely distributed kind 
of rock, is composed of the elements, carbon, oxygen, 
and calcium, with some other matter that may happen 
to be present as impurities, and is known as carbonate 
of calcium. 

13. The lime of commerce, such as is used 
for making mortar, if pure, is composed of oxygen 
and calcium. It is made by burning limestone in a 
kiln, the burning simply driving off the carbon and 
part of the oxygen. The lime differs from the lime- 
stone from which it is made in having strong caustic 
or corroding properties, and a strong affinity for 
water. 

14. When water is added to fresh lime, heat and 
steam are produced by the combination of the ele- 
ments contained in the water with those of the lime, 
and the lime is said to be ''slaked." If not too much 
water is added, a dry, fine, powder is the result, Vhich 
consists of lime and water; but, in the process of com- 
bination, the water is changed from a liquid to a solid, 
adding weight and bulk to the hme. 

15. If fresh lime is exposed freely to the air, 
moisture is slowly absorbed from the atmosphere, 
producing what is known as "air slaked" Hme. At 
the same time carbon and oxygen in the form of 



6 COMPOSITION OF MATTER. 

carbonic acid, (a compound always existing in small 
quantities in the atmosphere) is also absorbed, chang- 
ing the lime back again to carbonate of calcium ; or 
carbon, oxygen, and calcium, the same material (lime- 
stone), from which the lime was originally derived. 

16. In like manner two or more of the elements 
are combined together to form all substances with 
which we are familiar. Soils, plants, trees, animals, 
liquids, etc., are simply several elements combined. 
Elements that are in the soil in the spring may pass 
into the plant during the summer, be absorbed into 
the animal that eats the crop, and the manure from 
the animal may go back to the soil and carry the same 
elements back to supply the succeeding crop, the same 
round being repeated again and again. 

17. The changes just referred to are chemical 
combinations, a process by which the elementary 
substances contained in one material, combine partially 
or wholly with those of another, and it differs from 
what is termed a mechanical combination or mixture ; 
although in the latter we may have a compound that 
is quite unlike the materials from which it is made. 

18. One substance may dissolve and disappear in 
another without changing the bulk or appearance of 
the latter, as when salt or sugar is added to water. 

19. In practical agriculture, when we grow a crop, 
feed it out to stock, and apply the manure made to 
the soil for the succeeding crop, we are simply putting 



COMPOSITION OF MATTER. 7 

back what the crop had taken from the soil and air ; 
but owing to the changes in the combinations of the 
elements contained, the substances appear in a dif- 
ferent form. The crop itself, if applied as a fertilizer, 
would after decay, have nearly the same effect as the 
application of the manure made by feeding the crop 
to stock. 

20. The elementary substances are themselves 
unchangeable ; that is, one will not turn into another. 
An atom of oxygen is always an atom of oxygen, no 
matter what it may combine with. 

21. The elementary substances can not be 
destroyed. If we take a stick of wood, which is 
composed of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and some 
mineral or ashy matter, and burn it, we simply cause 
the gaseous elements, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, 
to pass off into the air, while the mineral matter re- 
mains as ashes. If the ashes are applied to the soil, 
they become soluble and may in time be taken up by 
the roots of plants to help make new wood, while 
the three gases may be taken up by the leaves, or, if 
carried down to the soil by rain, by the roots of plants, 
and again appear in the solid, woody form. 

22. Polished iron exposed to moist air is covered 
with a coating of rust, produced by the oxygen of the 
air combining with the iron. The iron is oxidized, or 
burned, just as wood is burned in fire ; but the combus- 
tion is very slow, and does not produce sensible heat. 



CHAPTER II. 

Origin and Formation of Soils. 

Rock Formation. — Conversion of Rock into Soil. — 
Mechanical and Chemical Deconipositioii. — Organic 
and Inorganic Matter. 

23. Geology teaches that the earth was once an 
immense body of melted matter. As the molten mass 
cooled, a crust of rock was formed on the surface, and 
this rock, broken up by the action of moisture, heating, 
freezing, the wearing effect of running water and 
moving ice, and decomposition due to the action of 
the atmosphere, has been changed into soil. 

24. The breaking down of solid rock and forma- 
tion of soil is constantly taking place, and may be 
seen wherever rock is exposed to the action of the 
air, water, heat, and cold. 

25. The stone building or bridge, the monument, 
the hardest granite, all slowly crumble down unless 
protected from the action of the weather, and even 
the soil itself decomposes, breaks up into finer parti- 
cles, although the finely broken rock may again unite 
and become a solid mass if protected from the weather 
and allowed to remain undisturbed. 



ORIGIN AND FORMATION OF SOILS. 9 

26. Rain falling on the crumbling rock washes the 
finely broken particles down the hill- sides and into the 
streams 

27. The sediment deposited by the streams of 
water and moving ice, and crumbling of the exposed 
surface, has covered the rocky crust of the earth with 
a layer of soil varying in thickness from an inch to 
hundreds of feet. 

28. In addition to the material formed from the 
finely broken rock, most soils contain more or less of 
the remains of plants and sometimes animals, so that 
ordinary soil is made up of mineral substances called 
inorganic matter, and vegetable and animal remains, 
called organic matter. 

29. Plants, either growing or decaying, help to 
form soil from broken rock, while the worms and 
minute organisms in the earth aid in the same way to 
make the soil fine, and fit it for the better growth of 
plants. 

30. Soil is formed from rock and fitted for the 
growth of plants through mechanical decomposition, 
simply breaking up into small particles, and chemical 
decomposition, separation of the elements that enter 
into the composition of the rock. 

31. Organic matter, as generally understood, 
means material formed or collected in animal or plant 
growth that can be driven off by heat. 



lO ORIGIN AND FORMATION OF SOILS. 

32. To determine the amount of organic matter 
contained in a soil, a sample of the soil is thoroughly- 
dried, carefully weighed, then heated to a low red 
heat. After having been heated, it is again weighed, 
the loss in weight from the portion driven off by 
burning represents the organic matter. 

33. The inorganic matter of the soil, or of a plant, 
is the part that remains after the organic material is 
burned off. Pure and clean sand, clay, etc , are 
samples of inorganic matter, while the remains of the 
roots, stems, and leaves of plants, and skin, hair, and 
tissues of animals contain the organic matter. 

34. All soils that have been recently covered with 
any kind of plant growth, contain organic matter 
varying ordinarily in amount from one to ten per cent., 
while marshy or peaty soils may contain several times 
as much. 

35. Continuous cultivation of land will reduce the 
amount of organic matter in the soil, unless some 
means are taken to renew the supply, while in wood- 
lands, and land allowed to grow up in grass and weeds, 
the organic matter will increase. 

36. By alternating cultivated crops, such as corn 
and cotton with grass and clover, a sufficient supply 
of organic matter may be retained in the soil. 



II 



CHAPTER III. 

Composition of the Soil. 

Classification of Soils. — Heavy Soils. — Light Soils. — 
Fertile Soils. — Productiveness. — Coitdition of 
Elements Reqim'ed to Support Plant Grozuth. — 
Rendering Soil Elements Available. 

37. Soils differ widely in composition and con- 
dition, varying according to the materials from which 
they are formed ; yet we find certain elementary sub- 
stances in nearly all soils. 

38. A soil composed largely of pulverized lime- 
stone is called a marl, calcareous, or lime soil; of 
sandstone, a sandy soil ; of alumina, a clay soil ; of 
partially decomposed vegetable matter, such as we 
find in swamps and marshes, a peaty or mucky soil. 

39. If the soil contains a large proportion of clay, 
it is sticky when wet, dries out slowly, is hard and 
compact when dry, and is called a heavy soil. If 
made up largely of sand, it dries out more rapidly, is 
not sticky when wet, remains loose and porous when 
dry, and is called a light soil. All of these soils may 
be equally productive if they contain a sufficient 
amount of the elements required in plant growth, 



12 COMPOSITION OF THE SOIL. 

that are in the right condition, and do not contain 
materials that are injurious to plant growth. 

40. The term, light soil, as ordinarily used, means 
simply a loose or coarse grained soil. A cuoic foot 
of dry sand weighs from no to 120 pounds, of loamy 
soil, (sand and clay mixed) 90 to 100 pounds, a nearly 
pure clay soil 70 to 80 pounds, and peat or muck from 
30 to 50 pounds. 

41. All fertile soils contain more or less aluminum, 
calcium, carbon, chlorine, iron, magnesium, manga- 
nese, phosphorous, potassium, silica, sodium, and 
sulphur, in their combined forms, and organic matter 
containing nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen. The 
other elements are found more or less widely diffused 
in soils, sometimes in considerable quantity and 
variety, while again they may be entirely lacking, or 
found only in minute traces. They are not of special 
importance in agriculture, unless found in sufficient 
amount to be injurious to plant growth. 

42. The productiveness of the soil depends more 
upon the condition than upon the quantity of the 
elementary substances in it. Soils may contain large 
amounts of all the elements required for plant growth ; 
yet, if the elements are not in the proper condition, 
the plant or crop may not be able to make use of 
them. 

43. A rock may contain elements that will make 
plant food; but, unless the rock is broken up and 



COMPOSITION OF THE SOIL. 1 3 

made soluble, the plant can not absorb them. Two 
or more elements may be combined in such a form 
that they are not available to plants, and a new 
chemical combination must take place to fit them for 
plant food. 

44. The application of barn yard manure, com- 
mercial fertilizers, lime, ashes, plowing- and culti- 
vating, turning under green crops, in fact, the addition 
of any substance to the soil that will form new com- 
binations of the elements in it, or any treatment that 
will give access to the air to promote decomposition 
of soil matter, tends to prepare inert matter in the soil 
for plant food. Filling the soil with the roots of plants, 
and then allowing them to decay, will have the same 
effect. Shading the soil by growing such crops as 
cow- peas, clover, grass and weeds, or covering it with 
straw and litter of any kind will tend to increase the 
amount of available plant food and make the land 
more productive. The farmer should study all these 
methods of improving- the condition of the soil to 
enable him to increase the fertility in the most 
economical way. 



14 



CHAPTER IV. 

Composition of the Plant. 

Reqtdrements of the Plant. — Elements found in 
Plants. — Enriching the Soil. — ExJiausting the 
Soil. — What sJionld be Sold from the Farm. — 
Natural Restoration of the Soil. 

45. Plants are composed of combinations of cer- 
tain elements that are drawn from the soil and the 
atmosphere. These elements must exist in available 
form in the soil and air, or the plant will not grow. 
All of the ordinary farm crops contain the same ele- 
ments, in different proportions; but one plant may 
have the power to take material that is not accessible 
to other plants, from the soil to make growth. For 
this reason some soils are best adapted to one crop 
and some to another. 

46. It has been found in planting seed in pre- 
pared soil that ten elements are required to enable 
plants to grow. Four of these elements may be 
supplied from the atmosphere, but the other six must 
be present in the soil. 

47. The elements believed to be necessary for 
plant growth, are: oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, 



COMPOSITION OF THE PLANT. 1 5 

nitrogen, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magne- 
sium, sulphur, and iron. 

Sodium, manganese, silicon, and chlorine are gener- 
rally found in plants, besides traces of several other 
elements, but these are not thought to be necessary 
to their growth 

48. Oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and part of the 
nitrogen are supplied by the air and rain ; the remain- 
ing elements, by the soil. 

49. Animals live on plants or on other animals ; 
hence the body of the animal is composed of the same 
elements that are found in plants, and the remains of 
animals and plants applied to the soil as a fertilizer will 
furnish plant food to growing crops. 

50. Well cultivated soils generally contain a suffi- 
cient supply of the elements named, in an available 
form, except potassium, phosphorous and nitrogen. 
Four-fifths of the atmosphere is composed of nitro- 
gen ; yet the plant can not use this nitrogen unless it 
is combined with hydrogen in the form of ammonia, 
or with other substances in the soil, and made soluble 
so that the roots of plants can absorb it. 

51. Crops that draw large amounts of the nitrogen 
compounds, potash, and phosphates from the soil, 
exhaust the soil rapidly; while crops that contain 
only small amounts of these three materials, and do 
not remove much besides carbon, oxygen, and hydro- 



l6 COMPOSITION OF THE PLANT. 

gen — elements supplied by the air — do not exhaust 
the soil rapidly. 

52. The marketable parts of some crops contain 
only small amounts of the elements that exhaust soil 
by being removed; hence, if the remainder of the 
plant is returned to the soil, fertility is retained. 
Cotton lint is composed almost entirely of carbon, 
oxygen, and hydrogen, elements supplied by the air 
and rain ; therefore, if the seeds, leaves, and stems 
are returned to the land, fertile soils may be cropped 
for years without much deterioration. 

53. Cotton seed is rich in fertilizing materials, 
and should be used on all farms to feed to stock, and 
the manure should be returned to the land, or else 
the seed apphed directly for manure. The oil of the 
seed is composed of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, 
and is of no particular value for manure ; hence, there 
would be no loss of fertility if the seed were sold, 
and as much cotton seed meal and cotton seed hulls 
as the seed contained, purchased and returned to the 
land. 

54. Wheat flour is made up largely of carbon, 
hydrogen, and oxygen; therefore if the wheat bran 
and Avheat straw are fed to stock, and the manure 
produced returned to the soil, but little loss of fertility 
will occur. 

55. The leaves of the tobacco plant contain large 



COMPOSITION OF THE PLANT. I^ 

amounts of the fertilizing elements ; and, as the leaves 
constitute the part that is sold, tobacco wears out 
land rapidly. 

56. A study of the composition of plants will 
enable the farmer to grow and sell such crops, or such 
parts of the crop, as will not remove any considerable 
fertility, and it will suggest also the importance of 
purchasing feed stuffs that will make rich manure. 

57. It will be noticed from what has been said in 
this chapter, and in the chapter on Soils, that plants 
are composed of elements drawn from the soil, with 
the addition of such elements as are supplied by the 
air and rain. If, therefore, a plant grows, and remains 
on the land to decay, the soil will receive back what 
the plant has taken up and also what the atmosphere 
has supplied. In addition to what the plant gives 
back to the soil, the decay of the stems, roots, and 
leaves renders soluble inert material in the soil. In 
this way nature restores the worn out lands that have 
become impoverished by continual cultivation without 
the application of fertilizers. The growth and decay 
of grass and weeds on land that has been ' ' turned 
out," slowly enriches it, and, if the soil is not washed 
away, will, in time, make it again productive when 
cropped. 



i8 



CHAPTER V. 

Plant Food in the Soil. 

Stipport of the Plant. — Fertile Soil. — Why Nezv Land 
is Productive. — Retaining Fertility. — Value of 
Natural Fertility. 

58. Plants, like animals, must be supplied with 
food to live and grow. The food of the plant is taken 
up by the roots from the soil, and absorbed through 
the leaves and green parts from the atmosphere. In 
practical agriculture we are chiefly concerned with 
what is taken up by the roots, that is, with the plant 
food in the soil. 

59. If a soil contains an abundance of all of the 
elements that enter into the composition of the plant, 
and if these elements are combined in the proportion 
to pass into the condition that will permit of absorp- 
tion by the roots of plants, the soil is said to be fertile, 
provided the temperature of the soil and air is suitable, 
a proper amount of moisture present, and there are no 
substances in the soil that may act as a poison to the 
plant. 

60. A totally barren soil, (one containing no plant 



PLANT FOOD IN THE SOIL. I9 

food) can be made to grow plants by supplying the 
above requisites. 

In practical work the cost of the material added to 
produce the crop might exceed in value the product 
secured ; therefore land may be too poor to be worked 
profitably. 

61. New land, when first broken with the plow, 
contains usually an abundant supply of plant food, 
and will produce large crops. In forest and wild 
prairie growth, the leaves, stems, etc., of the trees, 
grasses, and other plants, fall on the ground, decay, 
and constantly add plant food. In growing a crop 
and removing the product, plant food is carried away 
and thus the soil is exhausted. 

62. If the crop is fed out to some kind of stock, 
and all the manure made is carefully saved and 
returned to the land, the soil receives all that has 
been taken away except the small amount stored up 
in the body of the animal. 

63. From this will be seen the necessity for keep- 
ing some stock on the farm, and the growing of feed 
crops on at least a portion of the land to make 
manure, instead of producing crops for sale only, such 
as cotton, wheat, and tobacco. 

64. Land may be cultivated for any length of time 
without loss in producing capacity, if plant food in 
the form of barn yard manure, or other fertilizers is 



20 PLANT FOOD IN THE SOIL. 

supplied. The manure simply contains the elements 
that the crops require, or it has the power to make 
available to the plant what the soil contains. Under 
an intelligent system of farming the soil should not 
become less productive. 

65. The solid rocks are made up partly of 
elements that enter into the composition of plants, 
but in the form of rock the plant can not make use 
of them. The elements in the rocks and in the soil 
are often combined together in such a way as to be 
out of the reach of plants. The rocks are pulverized 
by being exposed to the sun, rain, heat, cold, etc. , 
and particularly to the action of the oxygen of the 
air, and the elements of which these rocks are com- 
posed form new combinations. Ploughing land, and 
repeated cultivation of the crop while growing, though 
they add no new material to the soil, furnish plant 
food by making available that which is already in the 
soil. Applications of lime, plaster, (sulphate of lime) 
salt, ashes, etc., will often aid plant growth and in- 
crease the crop, not so much from the plant food they 
contain, as from the decomposition of inert matter in 
the soil caused by the application just mentioned. 

66. Certain soils that have been cropped for many 
years without the application of any fertilizer, still 
produce large crops. This is true where a consider- 
able amount of plant food is stored in the soil, which 
slowly becomes available through chemical changes 



PLANT FOOD IN THE SOIL. 21 

in its condition. Examples of such soils are found in 
valleys and bottom lands where a thick layer of rich 
soil has been deposited by overflow. 

67. Soils that contain considerable amounts of 
clay or lime, are usually lasting soils, while sandy 
soils, as a rule, soon wear out, unless fertilized, not- 
withstanding the fact that they are generally more 
productive when fresh than are the heavy soils. 

68. Low, wet lands, as a rule, contain more plant 
food than uplands, and will be found most profitable 
to work, provided they can be effectually drained at 
an expense not too great. 

69. In purchasing land for a farm, the choice 
should be governed largely by the amount of plant 
food the soil contains, as this will determine to a con- 
siderable extent the cost of keeping the land in a 
profitably productive condition. 



22 



CHAPTER VI. 

Mechanical Condition of the Soil. 

Effect of Compact Soil on the Plmit Food Contained. — 
Fertilizers. — How to Improve. — Drainage. — 
Shallow a?td Deep Ctdtivation. — Fall Plowing. — 
Treatment of Sandy Soils. — Muck and Prarie 
Soils. 

70. It is stated in the preceding chapter that soils 
may contain large amounts of all the elements 
required by plants to make growth, and yet may fail 
to produce profitable crops. This result is often due 
to the fact that the soil is not in a proper mechanical 
condition. 

71. A close-grained, compact soil will not freely 
admit air, water, and heat; requisites for supplying 
the roots of plants with plant food ; nor can the roots 
penetrate the soil readily. The feeding power of the 
plant is governed largely by the extent of its root 
growth ; hence, if the roots can not spread all through 
the soil, full development will not take place. 

72. If the air can not enter the soil, chemical 
decomposition of substances that contain inert plant 
food will be prevented ; and from this source the crop 



MECHANICAL CONDITION OF THE SOIL. 23 

may be largely supplied Fertilizers applied to such 
soils give light returns, unless they change the tex- 
ture of the soil; hence, the improvement of the 
mechanical condition of many soils is of prime impor- 
tance. 

73. The compact condition of the soils referred to 
is due to several causes, but more often to excess of 
water in the soil during portions of the year (lack of 
drainage) than to any other. 

74. Soils composed largely of clay and containing 
but a small proportion of sand or of vegetable or 
organic matter, will become compact from continual 
shallow plowing and cultivation, working heavy land, 
or allowing stock to run on it while it is wet, will 
produce this condition. 

75. Heavy, compact clay soils are benefitted by 
the application of sand to lighten them up ; but such 
an application is usually too costly to be practicable. 
Nearly all clay soils will become compact and heavy 
to work, if kept in clean cultivated crops for several 
years, when the crops are entirely removed from the 
land. 

76. If the cultivated crops alternate with grass, 
clover, peas, or any growth that will fill the soil with 
roots, or which leaves a considerable quantity of vege- 
table matter on the soil, this material when plowed up 
or under, will slowly decay, and will keep the parti- 



24 MECHANICAL CONDITION OF THE SOIL. 

cles of the soil separate and loose ; green crops plowed 
under, the application of coarse manure or litter of 
any kind, such as leaves, straw, weeds, etc. , will have 
the same effect. 

77. Clay land plowed, worked, or tramped by- 
stock, when wet, is puddled, the particles of soil being 
pressed firmly together and remaining so when dry. 
If the soil contains considerable lime, the injury is 
not so serious, since, in drying, the lime will cause 
the soil to crumble and will thus break up the clods. 

78 Shallow plowing, and cultivating only two or 
three inches deep, will stir the surface only, and will 
compact the sub-soil, often forming a hard-pan a few 
inches below the surface, almost impervious to air, 
water, and the roots of plants. The serious effect of 
such cultivation is shown in the "burning" of the 
crop in dry weather. 

79. When the heavy condition is due to excess of 
water, this being the most common cause, the only 
remedy is drainage, which subject will be discussed 
in a chapter by itself. 

80. From what has been said it will be understood, 
that the way to improve heavy, compact soils, is, first 
to drain them ; second, to give deep and thorough 
cultivation when dry, and keep stock from running 
on the land when wet ; third, to alternate clean culti- 
vated crops, like cotton and corn, with grass and hay 



MECHANICAL CONDITION OF THE SOIL. 2$ 

crops, or to plow under an occasional crop growing 
on the land, such as grass, clover, peas, grain, or even 
weeds 

81. Fall and early winter plowing, after land is 
well drained, will be found beneficial on most heavy 
soils, simply breaking the land with double plows 
and leaving it without harrowing. 

The author has added 25 per cent, to the succeed- 
ing crop by plowing heavy bottom land in the fall. 

82. Sandy lands require different treatment from 
heavy clay soils. They generally need compacting 
instead of loosening. Shallow plowing and cultiva- 
tion, and even working when quite wet, are often 
beneficial. The addition of vegetable matter in the way 
referred to in the treatment of heavy soils, will also 
be of great advantage in filling the open spaces in the 
soil with a fine material that will help to retain moist- 
ure, and prevent fertilizing matter from leaching out. 

83. Muck soils, marsh, and fresh prairie land, 
are too open and porous, and they contain too much 
organic matter to grow large crops. They require 
different treatment from either light sandy, or heavy 
clay soils to be made productive. If wet, they must 
first be drained, and after that, the more thoroughly 
the surface soil can be exposed to the action of the 
oxygen of the air, to decompose and get rid of the 
excess of organic matter, the sooner will they produce 
good crops. Plowing should be shallow at first, and 
as long before planting as posssible. 



26 



CHAPTER VII. 

Effect of Water on the Soil and Crop. 

Absorption of Water by the Plant. — Water in the 
Soil. — Influe7ice of Wet Soil on Crops. — Drainage. 

84. Plants require considerable quantities of water 
during the growing season, when the leaves are 
exposed to the free air. 

85. The water is absorbed from the soil by the 
roots and thrown off from the leaves. If the supply 
of water becomes exhausted or is not sufficient for the 
requirements of the plant, it wilts, growth is checked, 
and the plant may finally die. If the leaves on the 
plant are removed, evaporation of water is stopped, 
and in this leafless condition the plant may be kept 
alive but in a dormant state, for a considerable time. 
In a moist atmosphere, evaporation from the leaves 
is checked and less water is taken up from the soil by 
the roots. 

86. Soils that dry out rapidly by evaporation from 
the surface, or from drainage through a coarse and 
loose sub-soil, can not be relied upon to grow crops in 
dry seasons. 



EFFECT OF WATER ON THE SOIL AND CROP. 2/ 

87. An excess of water in the soil is injurious to 
many plants. With the exception of the coarser grasses 
and sedges and a few other plants, farm crops will not 
grow and thrive on land that is saturated with water. 

88. If the soil is wet during the spring and early- 
summer, and dry the remainder of the season, it will 
not produce abundant crops. As a rule, crops planted 
on such soils suffer most during droughts. This 
result is due to several causes : 

1st. Heavy soil that is wet in the spring can not 
be properly prepared for planting. 

2nd. Heat will not penetrate a wet soil, and where 
water stands near the surface, the rapid evaporation 
will keep the soil cold, regardless of the temperature 
of the air, thereby tending to make the seed rot or 
produce a weak and sickly growth. 

3rd. The roots of plants growing on wet land will 
spread out near the surface instead of descending into 
the soil. The roots do not reach fertilizing material 
stored in the soil, the plant food in the soil will not 
become available so long as it is sealed up by a cover- 
ing of water, and again, when the soil dries out 
during mid-summer, the roots lying near the surface 
in the hot dry soil can not take up water, they dry up 
and the crop is * ' fired " or burned up before it matures. 

4th. Large quantities of water evaporting from the 
surface of the soil, makes the soil compact and solid, 
impervious to the air, and heavy to work. 



28 EFFECT OF WATER ON THE SOIL AND CROP. 

89. Drainage alone will correct the evils referred 
to in the preceding paragraphs, and drainage of some 
kind is the key- stone of successful farming on all 
heavy, close level, or bottom lands. 

90. On rolUng uplands that wash readily, control 
of the surface water is an absolute necessity to pre- 
vent destruction of the land for farming. The fertile 
surface soil of the hill lands is washed down into the 
streams and carried away, and the rich bottom lands 
are buried under a deposit of sand and clay. The 
ditches and creek channels are filled thereby, prevent- 
ing drainage, and both hills and bottoms are made 
unprofitable to cultivate. 

The effect of uncontrolled surface water washing 
over the land has reduced the fertility of the soil over 
considerable portions of the Gulf States to a much 
greater extent than has been caused by continual crop- 
ping and making no return to the soil in the way of 
manures. 



29 



CHAPTER VIII. 
Farm Drainage. 

Supply of Water for Plants. — Advantages Derived 
from Drainage. — Protection from Drought. — 
Kinds of Drainage. — Tile Drains versns Open 
Ditches. — Hi I I- side Ditches. — Terraces. — Hon- 
zo7ital Cidtivation. — Construction of Hill-side 
Ditches. — Draiiiage Ditches. — -Hozv to make a 
Level. — Leveling for Ditches — Making the Ditch. 

91. Farm drainage includes ridding- the soil of 
excess of water to the depth of two or three feet as well 
as the removal of surface water. 

92. To insure rapid growth and development of 
most farm crops, the soil should be moist, but not 
wet. If the excess of water in the soil is drawn off 
through under-ground drains, sufficient water may- 
still rise from the moist sub-soil by capillary attraction 
to supply growing plants 

93. A well drained soil becomes porous and 
sponge-like in its character, and will absorb and hold 
water supplied by rain, that would run off on the 
surface of any undrained and saturated soil. Thorough 
under-ground drainage on heavy soils tends to store up 



30 FARM DRAINAGE. 

water and retain it in the soil until needed, and pre- 
vent the rapid filling of creeks, and also destructive 
over-flows after heavy rain storms. 

94. Crops on drained land are not liable to suffer 
from lack of rain in dry seasons, because the land can 
be more deeply and thoroughly fitted for the crop 
before planting; cultivation is more effective, and less 
costly, and the roots of plants will be largely increased 
and will penetrate deeper. As a consequence they 
will not be affected by dry, hot weather, and there 
will be less evaporation of water from the surface than 
on undrained land. 

95. A strong, vigorous, well-rooted plant will 
thrive through a dry, hot or cold spell, where a 
shallow-rooted, weak plant would die; hence, drain- 
age and good cultivation will carry crops safely 
through any ordinary dry season. 

96. Drainage is of two kinds : surface and sub- 
soil. Surface drainage is where the water runs off 
over the surface, or is carried off in shallow ditches 
Sub-soil drainage is where the water sinks down into 
the ground through a porous sub-soil, or is carried off 
from the sub-soil through tile or other under-ground 
drains or seeps into deep ditches. 

97. The effect of deep open ditches, or tile drains, 
is practically the same, except that the open ditches 
occupy a good deal of land, and are in the way of 
cultivation, carry off soil and manure by washing, 



FARM DRAINAGE. 5I 

and require constant attention and labor to be kept 
in order, while tile drains are permanent and re- 
quire no room, or further attention after being con- 
structed. 

98. Ditches and tile drains two and one-half feet 
to four feet deep are preferable to shallow drains. 
Shallow open ditches do not drain land ; they sim- 
ply carry off surface water. When properly located 
they may prevent the soil from washing on sloping 
lands, but they do not remove the excess of water 
in the soil. 

99. Surface drainage, in the form of terraces or 
hillside ditches, is a necessity on cultivated hillsides 
to protect the land, if the soil washes readily, some- 
times even if the land is tile-drained. On some 
soils in the Southern States, during heavy and pro- 
tracted rains, the water will not sink into the soil 
fast enough to prevent washing over the surface. 

100. Terracing land means throwing up ridges or 
embankments of earth across hillsides on a level, or 
nearly level, and then plowing down the hill until 
the hillside assumes the form of steps, or terraces, 
from bottom to top. The object sought is to make 
each terrace, or step, hold the water that falls upon 
it, and cause it to sink into the earth, or to flow off 
slowly to prevent washing. 

101. Horizontal cultivation, running the rows of 
cultivated crops on a level around the hill, has, to 



32 FARM DRAINAGE. 

some extent, the same effect as terracing, and should 
always be practiced where the soil tends to wash. 

102. Hillside ditching is somewhat like terracing; 
Low embankments or shallow ditches are con- 
structed along the hillside, giving, however, sufficient 
fall to the ditch to allow the water to run off freely. 
Either plan will protect the soil from washing if the 
terraces or hillside ditches are properly constructed 
and kept in order. Terraces are preferable to hill- 
side ditches, requiring but little attention after being 
made, while the ditches require constant repairing 
and cleaning to prevent filling or washing out too 
rapidly. Horizontal cultivation must in all cases ac- 
company terracing or hillside ditching to make the 
work successful. 

103. In laying off all ditches the capacity of water 
for carrying soil should be carefully considered. The 
more rapid the flow the deeper the stream, the finer 
the particles of the soil, and the more readily they 
separate when wet, the greater will be the capacity 
of the moving water to wash away soil. From the 
preceding statement it will be seen that no definite 
rule can be laid down as to the fall that ditches 
should have to enable the water to scour them out 
clean, and yet not cut out deep channels or gullies. 

104. In practice it is four^d that hillside ditches 
should have a fall of from one to three inches to the 
rod, varying with the kind of soil, length of the 



FARM DRAINAGE. 33 

ditch, and amount of water to be carried. Whatever 
the fall given, it should not materially decrease to- 
wards the outlet of the ditch. If the flow of water 
is retarded at any point by less fall in the grade of 
the ditch, soil that is washed down from above by 
the swifter current will be deposited, the ditch will 
fill up with sediment, overflow, and the water, run- 
ning directly down the hill, will cut out deeper gul- 
lies than would be formed without ditches. Owing 
to this result from the faulty construction of hillside 
ditches, many farmers are led to believe that land 
will wash worse with hillside ditches than without 
them. 

105. The same caution that is required in the lo- 
cation and construction of hillside ditches, should be 
observed in laying off all ditches through nearly 
level or bottom lands, otherwise the ditches will fill 
wherever the current of water is retarded. Even 
large rivers from sand bars fill up and overflow 
where the speed of the current is materially checked 
by decrease in the fall. 

106. Ditches of all kinds should be located or 
laid off with some kind of a level. An ordinary car- 
penter's spirit-level may be rigged up for the pur- 
pose, but an engineer's telescope-level is more con- 
venient and accurate. 

107. To rig the carpenter's level for locating 
ditches, have it adjusted so that the glass tube con- 



34 FARM DRAINAGE. 

taining the bubble will be level with the upper sur- 
face of the wooden bar in which the tube is set. 
Bore a small hole through the bar in the center and 
attach with small bolt to the side of a light staff about 
five feet long. Sharpen the other end of the staff, 
or better, fit on an iron ferule drawn to a point, and 
the level is ready for use. Make also a measuring- 
rod of a light wooden strip, eight feet long, laid off 
in feet and inches, with the feet numbered, and the 
outfit is complete. 

108. To lay off the ditch, if a hillside ditch, start 
at either end or any point on the line of the ditch, 
and stick up a wooden peg. Set up the level at any 
convenient point by thrusting the sharpened end 
of the staff into the ground, point the level in the 
direction of the wooden peg, and make the level 
plumb. Two persons are necessary, one to work 
the level and an assistant to handle the measuring- 
rod. Let the assistant stand the rod on the ground 
at the wooden peg, holding it lightly with one 
hand, raising or lowering the hand until the upper 
surface is in line with the eye of the person sight- 
ing over the level. Notice the height of the hand 
above the ground, as shown on the rod, then de- 
cide upon the fall to be given, to find the next 
point on the line of the ditch. Suppose the fall 
is to be two inches in fifteen feet, and that the line 
is to be run down the ditch. The man with the 
rod will raise his hand two inches on the rod, and 



FARM DRAINAGE. 35 

carrying it with him, step off five paces in the direc- 
tion the ditch will run ; then holding the rod vertical, 
end on the ground as before, the man with the level 
will adjust the level pointed at the rod, and sighting, 
will notice if the hand of the rodman is too high or 
too low ; if too high the rodman will move down the 
hill until he finds a place that will bring his hand 
level with the line of sight, or if too low, move up 
the hill. When the point having the desired level 
is found, stick up another peg which will give the 
second point on the line of the ditch. Continue on 
as before until the entire line is run over, moving up 
the level occasionally, as the distance becomes too 
great to take sights readily. In working up the line 
of the ditch, the rodman would lower his hand at 
each change instead of raising it ; or in running off 
a level terrace he would not change his hand at all. 
The distance between the stakes and fall to the rod 
can be varied to suit the circumstances. 

109. The levels completed, the pegs will form a 
line on the ground with a uniform fall of two inches 
in every fifteen feet or five paces. 

110. To construct the ditch throw up a bed or 
back furrow with a large two-horse turning plow on 
the line of the stakes, leaving an undisturbed foun- 
dation two or three feet wide underneath. If a small 
plow is used it will be necessary to use hose and 
shovels to complete the work. The ditch-bank must 
be high and strong enough not to give way in a 



3^ FARM DRAINAGE. 

heavy rain. All weak places should be strengthened 
by building up with spade or shovel. 

111. After laying off hillside ditches, the rows of 
crops should be laid off parallel, or nearly parallel, 
with the ditches. Some farmers prefer to give the 
rows, or water-furrows, a little more fall than is given 
to the ditches in order to carry the water into these 
ditches. 

112. In laying off drainage ditches in land that 
tends to wash readily, the level should be used, and 
the ditch so located that the fall will be somewhat 
uniform, otherwise sediment will be deposited wher- 
ever the flow of water is retarded, and the ditch will 
fill up. Properly located and excavated, the ditch 
may be made self-cleaning if the water flows through 
it with nearly the same velocity from the source to 
the outlet. 



17 



CHAPTER IX. 

Preparing the Land for the Crop. 

Preparation of the Soil. — Plowing. — Large Imple- 
ments. — Deep Plozving. — Thorough Preparatio?i. — 
Planting on Ridges. — Value of Drainage. 

113. The cost of cultivating a crop will be gov- 
erned largely by the method of preparing the land 
before planting. While different soils require differ- 
ent treatment, the most successful farmers, as a rule, 
believe in and practice good plowing and thorough 
preparation. 

114. It is not necessary that the soil should al- 
ways be turned over with the turning plow, unless 
sod, weeds, manure, or other material on the surface 
is to be disposed of; but unless the soil is loose and 
fine, it should be thoroughly broken up and pulver- 
ized with the plow, harrow, or other implement. 

115. No better implement has been found for 
preparing the soil on the average farm than the bet- 
ter styles of two and three horse turning plows. 
The steam plow or cultivator may do better work, 
but is not, as yet, found to be adapted to small farms. 

116. Large implements and strong teams are 



38 PREPARING THE LAND FOR THE CROP. 

cheaper to use than small implements and light 
teams. One man can work two, three, or more 
horses or a large plow as well as he can work but 
one on a small plow, not only accomplishing two or 
three times as much work, but the work will be done 
better. 

117. On some soils and with certain crops, large 
yields may be secured with slight preparation and 
little after cultivation, as in corn following cotton on 
clean land ; but the best average results are secured 
from good deep plowing two to four or more times 
in every five years. 

118. On nearly all old soils, maximum crops can 
be most cheaply secured by turning under some kind 
of sod or vegetable growth at intervals of from two 
to five years, in order to add organic matter to the 
soil and improve its mechanical condition. 

119. The wider and deeper the furrow, the better 
such work can be accomplished, hence the necessity 
for large plows and strong teams. 

120. The ground can be broken up more effect- 
ually in less time and with less cost before the crop 
is planted than to attempt to break out the middles 
between the rows after planting, as is often practiced 
in the Southern States. The best and largest culti- 
vators can only be used in working the crop where 
the land has been well plowed and harrowed before 
planting. 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR THE CROP. 39 

121. The proper depth to plow will be governed 
by the kind and condition of the soil, crop to be 
grown, season of the year, time that will elapse be- 
fore planting, and depths of previous plowings. As 
a general rule, plow sandy, loose, and wet soils shal- 
low ; heavy and dry soil, deep ; shallow, if just be- 
fore planting ; deep, if some months before planting, 
as in fall and winter plowing for spring planting. 

122. The succeeding crop may be injured by 
deep plowing, if the land has always been plowed 
shallow ; but unless the subsoil is very poor, land 
containing much clay will be benefited by setting 
the plows to run half an inch or an inch deeper each 
year until the ground is broken eight to ten inches 
deep. 

123. On well drained heavy soils fall or winter 
plowing will usually be found beneficial; but there 
may be some loss of fertilizing material from leach- 
ing in wet winter climates, where the land does not 
freeze. The harrow should be used after plowing 
and before planting, and on loose or lumpy soils the 
roller also, to make a fine and yet not too loose 
seed-bed. The smaller the seeds to be planted, the 
more thorough should be the pulverization of the 
surface soil to secure an even stand of plants. 

124. Planting on beds or ridges, or planting on 
the level is more a question of drainage and temper- 
ature than of soil or crop. Well drained soil will 



40 PREPARING THE LAND FOR THE CROP. 

dry out and become warm early in the season, while 
wet land will not. The seeds of corn, cotton and 
many other plants will rot in cold, wet soils, when 
they would grow if the land was well drained ; hence 
loose and dry land may be planted on the level, 
while cold, wet soils must be thrown up into ridges 
to provide a seed-bed sufficiently dry and warm to 
insure germination. 

125. Level cultivation is preferable if the soil 
will permit, because the cultivator will do more rapid 
and effectual work on level land, a matter of consid- 
erable importance in the early cultivation of all 
crops. Tile drains dry out and warm up the soil 
early in the spring, and such drainage will enable 
the farmer to plow his land broadcast and plant crops 
on the level land. 



41 



CHAPTER X. 
How Plants Grow. 

The Ripening of the Seed. — The Annual — The Per- 
ennial. — Reproduction of the Plant. — Sprouting 
of the Seed. — Assimilation of Food. — Functions 
of the Roots and Leaves. — Material Drawn front 
the Soil. — Fi'oni the Atmosphere. — Source of 
Nitrogen. — Composition of Fertilizers. 

126. The ripened seed represents the purpose of 
the plant's existence and the completion of its growth. 
The annual plants, such as corn, oats, and cotton, die 
after the seeds are formed, and the material collected 
during their growth decays, and is returned to the 
soil to provide plant food for succeeding plants. 
Perennial plants, which are such as live more than one 
year, become dormant for a time after the seed ripens 
and the leaves drop off; but, with the advent of 
spring, new leaves are formed, new blooms put 
forth, and after a time another crop of seed is ripened, 
this being repeated year after year, until finally the 
plant or tree dies from old age, or from disease, when 
the material of which it is composed decays, as in 
annual plants, and is returned to the soil. 



42 HOW PLANTS GROW. 

127. To produce new plants, the seed may be 
planted; or in many plants, a piece of limb or root 
may be cut off from the living plant and placed in 
moist soil, from which roots and leaves will be thrown 
out, and a new plant produced of like character to 
those grown from planting the seed. 

128. Careful examination of a kernel of corn will 
show that it contains a small chit, or germ, that is in 
reality an undeveloped plant, and, in addition a con- 
siderable amount of starchy matter closely compressed 
into the shell of the kernel. If the kernel is placed 
in a warm and moist place, as in the soil, it will soon 
become swollen, the germ will burst its covering, and 
a sprout will begin to develop. The sprout will 
appear in two parts, one of which will turn up towards 
the light, the other descend into the soil. The first 
is called the plumule, and from it will develop 
the stem and leaves ; while the second, called the 
radicle, develops into the roots of the plant. 

129. During the sprouting period, the plant lives 
upon the matter stored in the seed; but, with the 
appearance of green leaves and roots, it begins to 
feed upon material taken from the atmosphere and 
from the soil. The roots and the leaves or other 
green parts of the plant act as mouths to take in sub- 
stances that will build up its structure. 

130. From the roots proper, small rootlets branch 
out in every direction ; and through the delicate outer 



HOW PLANTS GROW. 43 

covering of the root hairs, moisture is absorbed from 
the soil, and with it, plant food of various kinds which 
is present in the soil in a soluble condition. By a 
peculiar process the absorbed liquid is carried up 
through the parts of the plant, and the water not 
required is evaporated, and, with some gaseous 
matter, is thrown off by the leaves. The rest of the 
matter is left in the plant, and becomes a part of its 
structure. 

131. The leaves have two offices to perform ; they 
throw off the excess of water taken up by the roots, 
exhale oxygen when exposed to light, and a small 
amount of carbonic dioxide, (carbon and oxygen) 
during the absence of light. They take up from the 
atmosphere large quantities of carbon dioxide in sun- 
light, retaining the carbon and exhaling part of the 
oxygen. They may take up ammonia, (a combina- 
tion of nitrogen and hydrogen) when it is present in 
the atmosphere. 

132. The plant receives from the atmosphere 
more than nine-tenths of its weight and of its bulk, 
which consists of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and 
possibly, a small amount of nitrogen in the form of 
ammonia. 

133. The ash or mineral elements with the greater 
part of the nitrogen are taken up through the roots. 

134. Four- fifths of the atmosphere is composed 
of free nitrogen ; but nitrogen in its uncombined form 



44 HOW PLANTS GROW. 

can not be assimilated by either the leaves or roots of 
plants. When, however, the nitrogen is combined 
with hydrogen, as in ammonia, it may be absorbed 
by the leaves, or by the roots, if it is in solution. In 
solution it can also be absorbed by the plant's roots, 
when it is combined with a base as in nitrate of soda, 
a combination of nitrogen and sodium. 

135. Decomposition of animal or vegetable sub- 
stances containing nitrogen forms ammonia, which 
passes off into the atmosphere ; but, since ammonia 
has a strong affinity for water, it is carried down to 
the ground by every rainfall. The nitrogen of the 
air may also be made to combine with oxygen in the 
form of nitric acid, by electrical discharges, and may 
be carried in available condition by rainfall to the 
roots of plants; while recent investigations seem to 
show that free nitrogen may combine with some other 
element, in porous soil, and pass into the soluble form 
required to place it within the reach of the plant. 

136. From what has been stated, it will be 
understood that in the preparation of fertilizers, it is 
unnecessary to use all of the elementary substances 
found in the plant. Our manure or fertilizer need 
contain only such elements as are not supplied by 
the atmosphere, and not supplied in sufficient amount 
in the proper form by the soil. Carbon, oxygen, and 
hydrogen are supplied in abundance, and a part of the 
nitrogen ; the remainder must be contained in the soil 



HOW PLANTS GROW. 45 

in a soluble condition, or supplied as a fertilizer, if 
we wish to produce a maximum crop. Such sub- 
stances as oils, fats, sugars, starch, wood, and straw, 
composed almost entirely of carbon, oxygen, and 
hydrogen, have very little value as fertilizers, except 
to improve the mechanical condition of the soil, (see 
chapter 6) ; while lean meat, bones, seeds of most 
plants, and substances containing considerable quan- 
tities of nitrogen, potash, and the phosphates are 
usually of high fertilizing value. 



46 



CHAPTER XI. 

Fertilization of the Seed. 

Development of the Seed. — Structure of the Perfect 
Flower. — The Stamens and Pistils. — Impregna- 
tion of the Pistil. — Imperfect Floivers. — Fertiliza- 
tion of the Flozver in Corn. — Qvss- Fertilization. — 
Mixing of Varieties. — Propagation by Budding, 
Grafting y and from Cuttings. 

137. The plant springs up from the seed, or 
takes on new life after lying dormant throughout 
the winter, as in the forest tree. It then throws out 
leaves and flowers ; the flowers fade and in their places 
we find again the ripened seed. 

138. The development of the seed from the flower 
is as intricate as the production of new life in the 
animal, and the process is somewhat similar. 

139. If we examine a perfect or complete flower, 
such as may be found on the apple and many com- 
mon trees and plants, we will find at the base of the 
flower next to the stem a circle of one or more 
leaves or parts, usually green in color, called sepals. 
Inside of these is another row of delicate leaves, not 
green in color, called petals, and inside of the petals 



FERTILIZATION OF THE SEED. 4/ 

a cluster of little stems or hair-like projections, rest- 
ing generally on the base or center of the flower, 
consisting of an outer row surrounding one or more 
of different form in the center. 

140. The outer row of small stems are called 
stamens ; the inner, pistils. The stamens and pistils 
are the important parts of the flower, the sepals and 
petals simply acting as a protecting covering. The 
stamens and pistils are the reproductive organs of 
the plant, and they are as necessary in their func- 
tions as the reproductive organs of animals. 

141. At a certain stage in the development of the 
stamens, a fine dust-like substance, generally yellow 
in color, called pollen, is found. This is thrown off 
from the stamens, and if any of the pollen falls upon 
the pistil, the flower may be fertilized, or impreg- 
nated, and the seed will begin to develop at the base 
of the pistil, while the remainder of the flower with- 
ers and drops off. 

142. In the apple, pear, melon, and similar fruits, 
the seeds are surrounded by the edible part part of 
the fruit ; while in the strawberry the seed develops 
on the outer part of the edible portion. In the 
grains the seed is simply enclosed in a sheath. 

143. In some plants the stamens and pistils are 
found in separate flowers (imperfect flowers) on the 
same plant, as in corn ; and in still others the sta- 
mens are found in one plant and the pistils in an- 



48 FERTILIZATION OF THE SEED. 

Other, as in the willow and some varieties of straw- 
berries. In such plants the pollen is carried from 
the stamens to the pistils by the wind, insects, or 
other agencies. 

144. In corn the tassel, or flowers, at the upper 
extremity of the stalk, contain the stamens, while the 
silk on the young ear represents the pistils. Each 
fiber of the silk may develop a kernel of corn on the 
cob if a grain of pollen falls upon it ; but if we cover 
the young ear before the silk appears, so that no 
pollen will come in contact with the silk, we will get 
simply a bare cob and no corn. 

145. Different varieties of corn are found upon 
one cob w^hen two or more varieties are planted near 
each other; the pollen from one variety fertilizing 
the flowers of another variety. This is called cross- 
fertilization. Bees and other insects, in entering the 
flower to collect honey, get the pollen on their bod- 
ies, and may carry it to the pistils of other flowers ; 
in fact, in some plants a full crop of fruit or seed 
will not be produced unless the pollen is carried from 
stamen to pistil by insects. Red clover, beans, and 
pumpkins are partially fertilized through the aid of 
insects. 

146. Owing to pollen often being carried consid- 
erable distances by the wind and by insects, it is 
very difficult to keep varieties of corn, cotton, and 
other plants pure. 



FERTILIZATION OF THE SEED. 49 

147. In some plants that produce complete flow- 
ers, the stamens and pistils are so thoroughly en- 
closed and protected that the pollen can not be car- 
ried from one flower to another by insects or the 
wind ; hence, there is no danger of such varieties 
becoming mixed even when planted side by side. 
Wheat is an example of this kind. 

148. In many of our improved fruits and veget- 
ables, the seed if planted will not produce the same 
variety as the plant upon which they grow. The 
grafted apple and Irish potato are examples. To se- 
cure the same variety in the renewal of such plants, 
cuttings, or buds are grafted onto roots or plants 
grown from seed, and only the limbs from the bud- 
ded part allowed to grow. The Irish potato is sim- 
ply an enlarged underground stem containing buds 
or eyes that will throw out stems and roots when 
the potato is planted. 

149. Plants may also be propagated by cuttings; 
/. e., taking off a small piece of stem on which there 
is a bud, and planting in moist, warm soil. Roots 
and leaves will spring from the cutting the same as 
from the seed ; but while the flower that produces 
the seed may have been fertilized by another va- 
riety, thus forming a different plant, the cutting will 
produce the same variety of plant as that from which 
it was taken. Many of the best fruits and flowers 
have to be propagated from cuttings to retain the 
variety. 



50 



CHAPTER XII. 

Improvement of Variety. 

Natural Varieties. — Improved Vaiieties of Plants 
and Animals. —Selection. — Individual Variation. — 
Cross- Breeding. — Improvement of Coj n . — Cross- 
Fertilization of Perfect Flowers. — Improvement of 
Grain. — Retaining Improvement. 

150. The greatest success in farming can only be 
secured by growing the improved varieties of plants 
and animals. The improved varieties are made by 
modifying natural or wild growths. The wonderful 
improvement in varieties of animals and plants due 
to the skill of man can only be understood and ap- 
preciated, when we compare the qualities of our 
best breeds of animals, and varieties of fruits, veg- 
etables, and other farm products with the native or 
wild varieties of the same species. 

151. Natural varieties are the result of the influ- 
ence of climate, food and other natural agencies; 
while the improved varieties owe their qualities to 
the influence of man in selection in breeding, in 
giving a liberal supply of food to make greater and 
more rapid development, and in elimination of all 



IMPROVEMENT OF VARIETY. 5 J 

inferior individuals to stop their further reproduc- 
tion. 

152. In the improvement of plants seed are taken 
from the best specimens, and planted on soil best 
adapted to promote full development. Continual 
repetition of this process will insure improvement 
in the qualities of the plant. 

153. In animals, only such are selected to breed 
from as possess, to some extent at least, the desired 
qualities, all others being rejected. The offspring 
from the selected animals are fed and handled in 
such a manner as to develop the young animal in 
the desired direction. The treatment would include 
training (as in the case of the trotting horse, hunt- 
ing dog and others), as well as liberal feeding. Skill 
in the selection of breeding-stock, and in feeding, 
handling, etc. , will make some improvement in each 
succeeding generation. 

154. Cross-breeding or cross-fertilization between 
individuals of different varieties or breeds to com- 
bine the merits of both in the offspring, is sometimes 
practiced successfully. 

155. In beginning the improvement advantage is 
first taken of the individual variation found to ex- 
ist in all kinds of plants and animals. In any crop 
that is grown on a farm, an occasional plant may 
be found that is superior to the average plant. If 
seed from this plant be saved, and planted on se- 



52 IMPROVEMENT OF VARIETY. 

lected soil, and if the same plan is repeated year 
after year, decided improvement may in time be 
made. By selecting seed continually, from early or 
late maturing plants, large or small specimens, etc., 
a change in the desired direction may be secured. 

156. To make rapid and certain advancement in 
any desired direction in changing the character of a 
variety of plants, the fertilization or breeding of the 
flower must not only be controlled, but artificial or 
cross-fertilization must often be practiced. In arti- 
ficial fertilization, we may sometimes be able to 
combine the merits of two plants in the plant grown 
from the seed thus produced. 

157. Suppose that it is desired to increase the 
yielding capacity of a certain variety of corn, and 
we attempt to make two or more ears grow on each 
vtalk. If we simply go through the field and select 
oars for seed from stalks bearing two or more ears, 
we would get ears containing kernels of corn that 
were fertilized possibly with pollen from stalks bear- 
ing but one ear, or no ear at all. If, however, we 
plant a small patch of corn off by itself, on good 
ground, and, just before the tassels are fully devel- 
oped, go through the corn and cut the tassels from 
all stalks having less than two ears, we would have 
corn fertilized by two-ear stalks only, and we might 
certainly look for improvement. 

158. By controlling the fertilization of corn for 



IMPROVEMENT OF VARIETY. 53 

several years in succession, in the manner described, 
planting on good soil, and cultivating thoroughly to 
develop the growing habit, the yielding capacity of 
any variety of corn may be largely increased. The 
productiveness of certain kinds has been more than 
doubled in this way. 

159. Artificial fertilization of flowers having both 
stamens and pistils, is practiced by carefully remov- 
ing the stamens from the flower with small nip- 
pers before they are fully developed, protecting the 
flower with a paper or cloth covering from pollen 
floating in the air, and when the pistil is ready, 
carrying matured stamens from the flower of the 
plant that possesses the desired quality, and carefully 
shaking the pollen off on the pistil to be fertilized. 
The plants grown from seed resulting from cross- 
fertilization may not have the good qualities of 
either parent, but occasionally valuable varieties are 
produced in this way. 

160. Improvement by the simple selection of 
seed from the best plants is more certain in close- 
fertilized flowers, such as are found in w^heat (see 
146), than in plants like corn, where pollen is easily 
carried from one plant to another by the wind. The 
quality of the grain may be improved by blowing 
out light and small grains with a fanning mill and 
sowing the heavy grains. 

161. A more rapid and certain improvement can 



54 IMPROVEMENT OF VARIETY. 

be secured by passing through the field of grain after 
it is ripe and selecting the best heads or stalks form 
which to save seed. Heavy, plump kernels are 
often found in inferior, short heads of wheat or other 
grain ; therefore a selection of the best heads is more 
certain to secure the best seed than simply sorting 
the seed after threshing the crop. Selecting the be.^t 
ears of corn from a crib, or from the crop in the 
field, will make but little, if any, improvement, ex- 
cept what may be due to getting large ears that 
have been developed on strong stalks grown on the 
best soil in the field. 

162. The valuable qualities of the improved va- 
rieties of animals and plants are artificial qualities, 
produced by artificial treatment. They are not per- 
manent ; therefore, when the influences that caused 
the peculiarities to develop are removed or neglected, 
the improved variety or breed deteriorates until it 
again becomes common or native stock. 

163. In most improved varieties of plants and 
animals, early maturity and the increase of size, as 
well as better quality, are among the valuable things 
that have been secured through the improvement. 
This result is due largely to high feeding. The im- 
proved variety of corn that has been made to in- 
crease its yield two-fold has developed this quality 
from being planted on fertile soil, and it requires 
fertile soil to be able to make this large yield. In 



IMPROVEMENT OF VARIETY. 55 

the same way the beef breeds of cattle, or large 
butter yielding cows, have developed the habit of 
eating and digesting a large amount of food ; hence 
they require liberal feeding to bring out their valu- 
able qualities. 

164. The man who half cultivates his land, or 
who works poor soil without fertilizing, or who half 
feeds his stock, gains nothing in attempting to grow 
any of the improved varieties of plants or animals. 

165. The improved plant and the improved ani- 
mal will require better treatment than the common 
varieties, but when supplied with this extra care they 
will make larger return in proportion to amount of 
land occupied, labor and food consumed, than the 
common varieties under any system. 



56 



CHAPTER XIIL 

Cultivation of the Crop. 

Object of Cultivation. — Pi^eparation Before Planting. — 
Good Flowing. — Depth of Cultivation. — Fall 
Flowing. — Cultivation of Com. — Shallow and 
Deep. — Hillifig. — Turn Flow Cidtivation. 

166. Crops are cultivated by hand or by team- 
work to keep down weeds and promote rapid growth. 

During the growing season the crop should be kept 
clean from weeds to enable the plants to secure all of 
the available plant food and moisture that the soil 
will supply Oft repeated cultivation of the soil, if 
begun before the land becomes too dry, will tend to 
keep the soil moist through a dry season. 

167. Plowing and thorough harrowing of the land, 
just before planting a crop that requires hand labor 
to destroy weeds, will reduce the cost of cultivation 
by enabling the crops to get the start of the weeds. 
Land infested with rapid-growing perennial weeds, 
should always be planted when the soil is freshly 
plowed and especially so if the seed to be planted 
germinate and grow up slowly. Seeds will germinate 
in less time if planted in freshly prepared soil than 



CULTIVATION OF THE CROP. 57 

they will if planted sometime after preparation, owing 
to the freshly plowed soil being moist and breaking 
the outer coating of the seed at once. Cultivation 
may then commence before the weeds get well started 
and the ground becomes hard and difficult to work. 

168. Thorough preparation of the land before 
planting enables the farmer to work the crop with 
implements like the cultivator, that will cover a wide 
surface and do rapid work. Good plowhig is the 
foundation of successful farming, and its benefits are 
apparent in all seasons and during all stages of the 
growth of the crop. 

169 When land is drained and thoroughly pre- 
pared before planting, deep working of the crop is 
unnecessary. The one or two-horse cultivator with 
wide shovels, taking a row at one time going over, 
and cutting two or three inches deep, gives better 
results and does much more rapid work than such 
implements as the one-horse plow, or the bull tongue. 

The first working of the crop may be deep (three 
or four inches), but after that, as a rule, shallow 
cultivation (about two inches deep) is not only suffi- 
cient, but is better for the crop, as it does not cut off 
the roots of the plants, thereby reducing their feeding 
powers. 

170. From our own experience we find that but 
two implements in addition to the plow and harrow 
are necessary in working corn, cotton, and similar 



58 CULTIVATION OF THE CROP. 

crops, if the land is properly prepared, that is, drained 
and thoroughly plowed and harrowed. In corn, 
unless we can have a sod or some green growth to 
plow under for late planting, we invariably get the 
best results on heavy soils with least expenditure for 
labor, from deep fall or winter plowing, and shallow 
replowing, or fitting with the two-horse cultivator 
just before planting. 

171. After planting, the land is harrowed broad- 
cast with a Thomas smoothing-harrow, before and 
after the corn comes up, loosening the surface soil 
and destroying any weeds that may start with or 
before the corn. The loosening of the surface soil 
with the harrow causes the young corn to come up 
quick and grow off rapidly, and does away entirely 
with the "barring off" practiced in some States. 
The broad cast harrowing with a two-horse or three- 
horse team is quickly done, and it keeps down the 
weeds until the corn is large enough to be worked 
with the cultivator without covering the young 
plants. The first working is done with a one-horse 
or two-horse cultivator with sharp, diamond-shaped 
teeth; the later working, with wide, cutting, narrow- 
winged sweeps that cut not more than two inches 
deep and throw but little dirt to the rows. 

For one horse, the 24 or 26 inch narrow-winged 
Dixon sweep is one of the best implements we have 
used in corn and cotton. 



CULTIVATION OF THE CROP. 59 

172. Besides destroying weeds, oft-repeated shal- 
low cultivation of the crop retains moisture in the 
soil by checking the evaporation of water ; causes a 
more rapid decomposition of plant food in the soil; 
converts nitrogenous matter into a soluble form ; holds 
water deposited by showers and dew ; warms up the 
soil in spring; and keeps the lower soil moist and 
cool in dry hot weather. 

The more often the crop is cultivated, the more 
rapid the growth 

173. Deep cultivation after the crop is partly- 
grown, especially in very dry weather, will almost 
invariably injure the crop by cutting off the feeding 
roots. Late deep cultivation should not be practiced 
unless the crop is growing too rank, running too 
much to stalks and leaves. 

174. The experience of our best farmers shows 
that on deep-plowed and well-drained land, hilling, 
or throwing dirt up to the plants, except in small 
quantities to smother small weeds, is an injury rather 
than a benefit. 

175. Cultivating a crop with a turning plow is a 
slow process and should not be practiced unless the 
weeds and grass get such a start that smothering by 
burying is the only economical way to get rid of them. 
Such a condition is inexcusable, except in very wet 
seasons when continued rains for a week or two keep 
the land so wet that all work on the crop must cease. 



6o 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Manures. 

What is meant by Manure, — The Value of Manure, — 
Value of Food and Excrements for Fertilizers. — 
Nutritive and Mafturial Value. — Variation itt 
Value of Manure from different Animals. How 
to Retain Fertility. — Liquid Excrement. — Waste 
Piv ducts. — Manuj'e on Good and on Poor La^td. 

176. Manure is a term applied to any material 
that will, if added to the soil, supply plant food in 
an available condition to the crop, as well as to any 
material that will render soluble inert plant food 
already stored up in the soil. 

177. As commonly understood, manure means 
animal excrements ; or these excrements mixed with 
the litter that accumulates in stables and barn-yards. 
The value of any manure is determined by the con- 
dition, the kind, and the amount of elementary sub- 
stances it contains. The manurial value of animal 
excrements is determined largely by the kind of food 
the animal eats, as the excrement will contain nothing 
that is not found in the food. The value of any 



MANURES. 6l 

manure is largely determined by the amount of com- 
bined nitrogen, phosphates, and potash it contains, 
other elements required by plants are usually 
supplied by the soil and air; hence a food rich in 
these materials will make rich manure, and a food 
containing but small quantities of them will make 
poor manure, without regard to the kind of animal. 

178. Except to make it more readily available to 
plants, the animal adds nothing to the fertilizing value 
of any food-stuff by eating it and converting it into 
manure. A ton of hay or a bushel of corn applied 
to the soil has as much fertilizing value as the manure 
made from feeding it to an animal, but the hay or 
corn might require more time to decompose and 
become soluble. 

179. Wheat bran, cotton-seed, and linseed meal 
— valuable feeding stuffs for farm stock, are often 
applied directly to the soil as fertiHzers, and are found 
to make profitable returns for the cost 

180. All food-stuffs have two values : a nutritive, 
or feeding value, and a manurial value. If the food 
contains considerable quantities of nitrogen, of potash, 
or of the phosphates, it will make rich manure; and 
may also have high nutritive value. If made up 
almost entirely of starch or oily matter, it may still 
have a high feeding value, but be almost worthless 
for making manure. 



62 MANURES. 

181. The starch and oil which make up the prin- 
cipal part of corn have little if any manurial value, 
but are worth a good deal for food ; hence it would 
not be advisable to use corn for manure, and the 
same is generally true of all farm products. 

182. By feeding crops to animals, we may convert 
material in the crop of low fertilizing value into work, 
beef, milk, etc. , and still have the greater part of all 
that is valuable for plant food left in the manure. 

183. A young, growing animal stores up nitrogen, 
phosphoric acid, and potash, in building up the skin, 
lean meat, and bones ; while the same materials are 
used by the cow in the production of milk. A grown 
animal, at rest, at work, or being fattened, uses or 
stores up, only carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, the 
fertilizing elements of the food passing off with the 
manure; therefore food consumed by such animals 
produces richer manure than if fed to growing or 
milking amimals. 

184. Such foods as wheat bran, cotton-seed, or 
linseed meal, make rich manure, while corn, wheat 
flour, straw, poor hay, or any starchy or oily food 
that is made up almost entirely of carbon, hydrogen, 
and oxygen, makes poor manure. Some foods are 
rich both in food and manurial matter, cotton-seed 
ranking high in this respect. Hence to get the full 
value of cotton-seed it should be fed to stock, and the 



MANURES. -63 

manure made should be carefully saved, and applied 
to the soil instead of using seed for manure direct. 

185. The most successful system of farming is 
that in which only such farm products are sold as 
contain small amounts of fertilizing material, the 
remainder being converted into animal products and 
manure. 

186. In growing cotton, if the lint only is sold, if 
the seed is fed to cattle, and if the manure made is 
saved and applied to the land with the stalks, leaves, 
roots, etc., the planter could realize cash returns for 
the lint and for the animal products, while but a small 
amount of fertilizing material would be removed from 
the farm. 

187. In wheat-growing, if the straw is used for 
feed and bedding, and as much wheat-bran as the 
wheat contains, or concentrated food of any kind con- 
taining the same manurial elements, purchased and 
fed out to stock, and the manure applied to the soil, 
wheat would not be an exhaustive crop. 

188. Milk contains considerable quantities of ferti- 
lizing material, therefore growing crops to feed to 
cows to make milk to sell, exhausts the fertility of 
land nearly as rapidly as selling the crops, unless 
fertility is restored through the purchase of feed-stuffs. 
On dairy farms where the sales are limited to butter, 
and the skim milk is consumed by calves or pigs and 



64 MANURES. 

• the manure applied to the land, the fertility of the 
land need not be exhausted, as butter has no manurial 
value. Growing animals store up fertilizing material 
in their bodies, but the amount is small compared 
with the total amount in the food consumed. Fatten- 
ing animals excrete all of the fertilizing material. 

189. In considering the manure question it should 
be borne in mind that the liquid excrement of animals 
is of as much value as the solid excrement, and 
special pains should be taken to prevent its loss. 

190. All the waste products of the farm should 
be converted into manure by, being fed to some kind 
of stock or used as litter to absorb liquid manure, 
and a considerable portion of most farms should be 
devoted to growing crops for stock feed to make 
manure, looking to returns from animal products sold, 
to pay for cost of growing. On the majority of 
farms, stock growing of some kind is necessary to 
keep up the fertility of the soil and reduce the ex- 
pense of labor in order to make the farm profitable. 

191. The manures make better returns when 
applied to good land that is well cultivated, than they 
do when used on poor land poorly cultivated, if we 
except new land in which there is sometimes an excess 
of organic matter and plant food. 

192. On large farms, with moderate working 
capital, or meager equipment, the most profitable 



MANURES. 65 

returns will be secured by concentrating the manure 
produced and the labor expended in growing crops on 
the best land, and devoting the balance to pasture. 
The thoroughly tilled and liberally manured land will 
return a profit; while the poor land, even if it does 
not make large returns, costs almost nothing in the 
way of labor, and, if not too heavily stocked, will 
slowly improve in condition. 



66 



CHAPTER XV. 

Commercial Fertilizers. 

Composition of Feiiilizej-s. — Land Plaster. — Guano. — 
Materials from wJiicJi Fertilizers are made. — PJios- 
p hates. — Kainit. — Nitrate of Soda. — Value of 
Fertilizers. — Fertilizer Laws. — Value of Gua?io. — 
Bones. — Acid Phosphate. — Kainit. — Cotton Seed 
Meal. — Standard Fertilizer. — Vabie of Cotton 
Seed. — Barn-yard Manure. — Lime. — Special Ma- 
nures. — Quantity to apply. 

193. Commercial fertilizers is the name given to 
the artificial manures that are offered for sale in our 
markets. The fertilizers are made from materials con- 
taining more or less combined nitrogen, phosphates, 
potash, and lime. Lime alone, either fresh or air- 
slaked, is used to improve the fertility of land, but 
it is more often used in the form of land-plaster, also 
known as gypsum (sulphate of lime), or in the form 
known as phosphate of lime, an ingredient of most 
fertilizers sold on the market. 

194. The first commercial fertilizer to come into 
use on the farm was guano. This material consists 
of the excrements of birds. It is or was found in 



COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 6/ 

large quantities in countries where there is Httle or 
n6 rainfall, where these deposits have been accumu- 
lating for many years. The largest deposits have 
been found in Peru ; hence, the name Peruvian guano. 
The best guano contains in some cases eighteen per 
cent, of ammonia, and five and one-half per cent, of 
phosphoric acid. It is a very strong and active 
manure. 

195. At the present time the supply of guano is 
nearly exhausted, therefore the limited supply and 
cost of transportation has led dealers in fertilizers to 
seek other sources for a supply of materials rich in 
plant food. 

196. All kinds of refuse products that contain one 
or more of the three valuable manurial elements and 
lime, are now used in the manufacture of fertilizers. 
Phosphate rock, bone-ash from the sugar refiners, 
bones, kainit (sulphate of potash), muriate of potash, 
dried blood, fish-scrap, dried refuse from slaughter- 
houses, refuse from gas works, nitrate of soda, cot- 
ton seed meal, and many other materials. Gypsum 
and marl are often added to highly concentrated 
matter to give bulk and weight to the compound. 

197. The fertilizer manufacturer uses any of the 
above materials which supply ammonia, potash, and 
available phosphates at the least cost. 

198. The phosphate rock consists of fossil ani- 
mal remains, or rock containing large amounts of 



6S COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 

phosphate of lime. The same material makes up 
the principal part of bones. Large deposits of phos- 
phate rock are found in the Carolinas and other 
places. The rock is ground up fine and treated with 
sulphuric acid to make the phosphoric acid soluble, 
and after being thus treated it is considered of a 
value for fertilizing purposes equal to bone. 

199. Kainit, or the German potash salts, is found 
in extensive deposits in Germany. Kainit supplies 
the larger part of the potash used in fertilizers, owing 
to its low cost as compared with other material con- 
taining potash. 

200. Nitrate of soda is found in Peru, but not in 
sufficient quantities to make it cheap enough to be 
largely used in compounding fertilizers. It is valua- 
ble for the large amount of readily available nitro- 
gen it contains. One of the cheapest sources of 
nitrogen for the Southern fertilizer manufacturer at 
present is cotton seed meal. 

201. The value of commercial fertilizers is deter- 
mined by the amount of combined nitrogen, soluble 
phosphoric acid, and potash they contain, each in- 
gredient being estimated at so many cents per pound. 

202. The average price of these materials for 
1887 at some of the manufactories is estimated at 
sixteen cents per pound for nitrogen, seven and one- 
half cents per pound for available phosphoric acid, 
and five cents per pound for potash. The value of 



COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 6g 

these three ingredients varies to some extent when 
derived from different materials, but the above rep- 
resents average values. 

203. In the older and more progressive States 
laws have been enacted requiring manufacturers of 
fertilizers to have their goods inspected by a com- 
petent chemist, or to furnish a statement with each 
package showing what proportion of the three ma- 
nurial elements the fertilizer contains. 

204. From the above estimate the value of good 
Peruvian guano is rated as follows : 

2000 It), ( i8i^ nitrogen ^= 360 pounds @ 16 cents = - $57.60 

I ton. I S}^fc phosphoric acid = 1 10 lbs. @ yy^ cents =r 8.25 

Value of I ton $65.85 

205. Fresh-ground bones treated with sulphuric 
acid contain about two and one-fourth per cent, of 
nitrogen, and seven and one-fourth per cent, of solu- 
ble phosphoric. One ton would, therefore, contain 

45 lbs. ammonia @ 16 cents = - - - $6,20 

345 lbs. soluble phosphate @ 7^ cents = - 25,87 

Value of I ton $32.07 

206. Acid phosphate (Carolina rock) ground and 
treated with acid contains about 11.40% of available 
posphoric acid and 1.1% of potash. One ton would 
contain : 

228 lbs. phosphates @ 7^ cents = - - $17.10 

22 lbs. potash @ 5 cents = - - - i.io 

Value of I ton $18.20 



yO COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 

207. One ton of kainit contains about two hun- 
dred and thirty pounds of potash, which, at five 
cents per pound, would be worth ;^ 11.50. 

208. Cotton seed cake or cotton seed meal con- 
tains to the ton about 

135 lbs. of nitrogen @, 16 cents = - - $24.60 

61 R)s. phosphoric acid @ 7^ cents = - 4.57 

36 libs, potash @j 5 cents ^ - - - 1.80 

Value of I ton $27.97 

209. Cotton seed meal sells now for about ;^20 
per ton in the vicinity of the oil mills in the South- 
ern States, and acid phosphate and kainit sell for 
about the values given at seaport towns. Cotton 
seed meal at the .present price is one of the cheapest 
fertilizers that can be purchased. It contains too 
much nitrogen in proportion to the amount of the 
phosphates and potash to give the best results on 
some soils and with some crops ; but any desired 
proportion can be readily obtained by mixing cotton 
seed meal with acid phosphate and kainit, thus mak- 
ing a complete fertilizer. 

210. A standard fertilizer, containing eight per 
cent, to eleven per cent, of phosphoric acid, two to 
two and one-half per cent, potash, and two and one- 
half to three per cent, of nitrogen in the form of 
ammonia is sold by dealers at from ^30 to $40 per 
ton. Eight hundred pounds cotton seed meal, one 
thousand pounds acid phosphate, and two hundred 



COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. Jl 

pounds kainit, well mixed together, will make a fer- 
tilizer containing nearly the above proportions of 
nearly equal value to the goods prepared by the 
manufacturer, and at a cost considerably less. 

211. In the process of milling the cotton seed oil 
manufacturer extracts above two hundred and fifty 
pounds of oil, and seven hundred and fifty pounds 
of cotton seed meal from one ton of seed. The 
hulls make up the remaining one thousand pounds. 
The oil has no value as a fertilizer, and as the hulls 
contain not much besides carbon, hydrogen, and ox- 
ygen, and a small amount of potash, they have a 
low manurial value. The cotton seed meal in the 
ton of seed, estimated as before (two hundred and 
eight), would be worth about ;^ii ; one thousand 
pounds of cotton seed hulls about $1.2^, making a 
ton of seed worth 1^12.25 for manure, estimated in 
the same way that the factory value of commercial 
fertilizers is determined. 

212. According to Dr. Voelcker, chemist of the 
Royal Agricultural College, England, one ton of 
good barn-yard manure, composed of horse, cattle, 
and hog excrements, with the litter used for bed- 
ding, was found to contain twelve and three-fourth 
pounds of nitrogen, six and one-half pounds of phos- 
phoric acid, and thirteen and one-half pounds of 
potash. 



72 COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 

12^ pounds nitrogen @ i6 cents = - - $2.04 

6y2 pounds phosphoric acid @ 7^ cents = ,48 

13^ pounds potash @ 5 cents = - - .67 

Value of I ton of manure - - - $3-19 

213. It must be remembered that the values 
given above are comparative values, based only on 
the nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash contained. 
Besides these elements the lime in barn-yard ma- 
nure and cotton seed has some value, and the litter 
and hulls add organic matter to the soil, thereby im- 
proving its mechanical condition and its productive- 
ness. 

214. Lime alone is sometimes used as a fertilizer. 
It acts as plant food on land deficient in lime, but 
adds to the crop usually by helping to decompose 
material already in the soil. On soil filled with or- 
ganic matter, it will often produce very marked re- 
sults ; but on old, cleanly cultivated land it will not 
take the place of the combined fertilizers. Land 
plaster, applied as a top dressing after the crop is 
up, promotes the rapid growth of certain plants on 
some soils. On young clover, beans, peas, and sim- 
ilar plants, it will sometimes give as good results as 
the complete fertilizers, and often better results at 
much less cost. Plaster is used extensively by farm- 
ers who grow wheat, corn, and clover In rotation; 
on the young clover to increase the growth of the 
clover. 

215. Some soils and crops require only nitrogen, 



COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 73 

others potash, and others phosphates in order to get 
the best results for the expenditure. Small plots 
of ground should be fertilized with manures contain- 
ing a large amount of each one of these ingredients, 
and the yield of the different plots compared to learn 
which mixture or proportion will give best results 
on the soil tested. The farmer can then mix his 
fertilizer to suit his land and crop. 

216. The quantity of fertilizer to apply to an 
acre of land can not be definitely stated. In garden 
farming one thousand pounds is sometimes used with 
the most profitable results. On average farm land 
for the ordinary crops from two hundred pounds to 
three hundred pounds of a standard fertilizer (see 
210) is the quantity most commonly used. 

217. Chemical analysis of the crop and determi- 
nation of the quantity of each element drawn from 
the soil and removed will by no means indicate the 
quantity or proportion of manurial elements that 
should be applied to the soil to give the best result 
in growing the crop. The soil may contain in avail- 
able condition all that is needed of one or more of 
the substances required, and again some crops will 
utilize material that other crops can not appropriate, 
owing to the difference in feeding power of the 
roots. 



74 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Care of and Composting of Manures. 

Stable Manure. — Fresh Manure, — Solubility. — Litter. 
— Composting. — When Desirable. — Comparative 
Value of Stable Manure and Concentrated Fei'til- 
izers. — Care of. — Time to Apply. — Hoiv to Apply. 
— Top Dressing. — Plowing under. — Hill Applica- 
tions. — Plan Followed by Author. 

218. Stable manure decomposes rapidly and is 
subject to loss of valuable constituents if it is not 
properly handled. If allowed to heat, nitrogen, in 
the form of ammonia, will escape, and if the manure 
is thrown out into an open yard, soluble matter will 
be washed out with every rainfall. To prevent loss 
of fertilizing value, manure should be handled in one 
of the following ways: 1. Allowed to accumulate in 
the stables until needed. 2. Hauled direct to the 
field from the stalls every day as fast as it is made. 
3. Piled up in the yard in compact heaps. 4. Piled 
up under a shed to protect from rain until it is con- 
venient to haul on to the land. 

To prevent loss from leaching, the winter rains 
make it necessary in the Southern States, to keep 



CARE OF AND COMPOSTING OF MANURES. 75 

manure under shelter until it can be put on to the 
land. 

219. Green or fresh stable manure must decom- 
pose before it will become soluble and furnish avail- 
able food to the plant; hence composted manure 
gives more immediate returns than fresh manure. 
Stable manure from horses or mules will heat, if piled 
in large heaps, and ammonia will escape into the air. 
Cattle and hog manure, containing more water and 
being less active, will not heat readily, and when 
mixed with horse manure will prevent rapid decom- 
position of the mass. 

220. Leaves, dirt, trash, and refuse of all kinds 
are often used for bedding to make the animal com- 
fortable, and to absorb and hold liquid manure. Such 
refuse materials are sometimes added to manure in 
making compost heaps. When used to absorb and 
hold liquids that would otherwise be wasted, such 
practice may be profitable ; but when added to 
manure in a compost heap to increase the quantity 
of the compost, the extra cost of labor in handling 
the added material may exceed the value of the 
increase in crop resulting from the application, unless 
the refuse materials contain considerable amounts of 
fertilizing elements. 

221. On garden-farms, where land is costly and 
the manure is hauled but a short distance, composting 
refuse material with stable or concentrated manures 



76 CARE OF AND COMPOSTING OF MANURES, 

is usually found profitable ; but on large farnns the 
same results may be secured with less expenditure 
for labor by using the concentrated fertilizers in con- 
nection with green manuring, growing clover, cow- 
peas, and similar crops to rot on the ground or plow 
under. 

222. A ton of good stable manure has been found 
to contain from twelve to fifteen pounds of nitrogen, 
six to eight pounds of* phosphoric acid, and thirteen 
to fitfeen pounds of potash, which, estimated at the 
same rate as was given for commercial fertilizers in 
the last chapter, would make the ton of manure 
worth about $3 50 and equivalent in manurial value 
to about 175 lbs. of cotton-seed meal and 80 lbs. of 
Kainit. Stable manure made from feeding corn, with 
a poor quality of hay, and using straw for bedding 
and for a liquid absorbent, would not be worth more 
than two dollars per ton, estimated as above ; and it 
would be equivalent to not more than 100 lbs. of 
cotton-seed meal and 50 lbs. of Kainit. 

223. The organic matter in the manure would im- 
prove the mechanical condition of the soil and add 
organic matter to it, (see 49) but on good average 
soil the application of a mixture of cotton seed meal 
and Kainit would give a larger increase in crop owing 
to its being more readily available. It would also 
cost much less to apply it. 



CARE OF AND COMPOSTING OF MANURES 7/ 

224. One of the best plans for handling manure 
on the farm, when it can not be hauled direct to the 
fields, is to wheel or cart the manure from the horse 
and cattle stalls and from the hog pens, with an 
occasional scraping up of the barn-yard, to a pile 
under a shed The liquid manure should be added 
to the pile and the mass should be tramped down and 
kept just moist enough to prevent over-heating, but 
not to prevent a slow decomposition Treated after 
this method, the ingredients that contain plant food 
would break up and become soluble, the excess of 
water would evaporate and the pile of manure would 
decrease in weight and bulk, and increase in richness, 
thus reducing cost of hauling and application. Bones 
may be utilized by breaking them up with a heavy 
hammer and burying in such a compost heap Car- 
cases of dead animals may also be cut up and added 
to it with good results. 

225. From the protected compost heap just 
described, the manure may be hauled to the field at 
any time during the year that is most convenient. 

The time of year to apply manure to get the 
best results from the application is not a matter of 
serious importance on farms where diversified crops 
are grown. Readily soluble, quick-acting fertilizers 
should not be applied any considerable length of time 
before a crop will be growing on the land, as loss may 
occur from the soluble part of the fertilizer, being 



78 CARE OF AND COMPOSTING OF MANURES. 

washed out in the drainage water, or carried too deep 
to be reached by the plants. Such fertiHzers as fresh 
stable manure, the phosphates, cotton-seed, and other 
slow-acting manures had better be applied sometime 
before the crop is planted to give time for decomposi- 
tion. Grass lands may be fertilized at any time 
during the year with good results. 

226. Manure is applied to the soil in a variety of 
ways ; distributed broad-cast upon the surface, called 
top dressing ; plowed under, applied in the hill or 
several applications made during the season to the 
growing crop. All of the different methods of appli- 
cation are advocated, and each one may be found 
desirable under certain circumstances. 

227. In the method of applying manure two 
things are to be considered : first, benefit to the crop ; 
second, cost of application. The cost of manure and 
expense of application will have a good deal to do in 
determining the quantity to be used, system of farm- 
ing, and crops to be grown. Indirectly it may influ- 
ence the entire management of the farm. 

228. The cheapest method of applying coarse 
barn-yard manure is to spread it over the ground 
broad-cast, and the practice of letting it lie on the 
surface, or simply harrowing it in after the ground is 
plowed, is becoming more popular every year with 
our best farmers. Treated in this way the manure as 
it decomposes is washed mto the soil with every rain- 



CARE OF AND COMPOSTING OF MANURES. 79 

fall and evenly distributed to the roots of plants. 
Plowed under, decomposition takes place slowly and 
a considerable portion of the manure may be buried 
below the larger part of the feeding roots of the 
plants. This is especially true on deep plowed, heavy, 
close soils, that are not well drained. 

229. Plowing under a large quantity of coarse 
litter, or crop grown on the land, may lighten up a 
heavy soil and give good results from the improve- 
ment made in its texture, but the plant food will not 
become so quickly available as from surface applica- 
tion. Simply covering the soil with anything that 
will shade it, seems to be beneficial, so much so, that 
it is a debated question as to there being any gain in 
plowing under a crop of clover, cow peas or similar 
crops when nearly or fully matured, over letting it rot 
on the surface. 

230. With a limited amount of manure the best 
returns for one year may be secured from hill and 
drill application, as the roots of the plants reach the 
manure at once, but coarse manure applied in the 
hill may cause the soil in which the plant is growing 
to become too dry during a drought and reduce the 
crop. Hill and drill application makes extra labor 
unless the concentrated fertilizers are used and put in 
with the drill along with the seed at one operation. 

231. In our own practice we have adopted the 
plan of applying all stable manure as a top dressing, 



8o CARE OF AND COMPOSTING OF MANURES. 

broad-cast, and the concentrated fertilizer in the drill 
with the seed, or just as the crop is coming up. We 
use no refuse material for making composts, except 
the litter used for bedding for the stock, and apply 
the concentrated fertilizer alone to the soil, rather 
than go to the expense of employing labor to com- 
bine them with materials not rich in plant food and 
the added labor necessary to apply the compost. 
Our system of farming includes growing clover, cow 
peas, and other crops that leave organic matter in the 
soil on all land cultivated, thus obviating the necessity 
for supplying it in the manure. 



Si 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Rotation of Crops. 

Effect of Rotation. — Why Rotation is Desirable. — Dif- 
ference in Assimilation. — Root GrowtJi. — Material 
Left in Soil. — Diversity of Foliage. — Red Clover. 
— Cow Pea. — Value of Roots — Rotations. — Other 
Advantages. 

232. Experience has shown that as a rule when 
one crop is followed by a crop of a different kind, 
land will be more productive than under the single 
crop system. Tke best results are secured both in 
increase of yield and economy in labor by having 
clean-cultivated crops such as corn, cotton, Irish 
potatoes, etc. , alternate with grain, clover, cow peas, 
and grass crops. A crop of weeds allowed to grow 
and decay on the land will be beneficial so far as 
adding to the fertility is concerned; but, if the weed 
seeds are allowed to ripen, it may add to the expense 
of keeping succeeding crops clean. 

233. Plants vary widely in the following parti- 
culars : 

1. Power of assimilating by means of their roots 
the plant food in the soil. 



82 ROTATION OF CROPS. 

2. In the proportion of the several plant food ele- 
ments taken up. 

3. In the extent and depth of root development 

4. In the amount of plant food left for succeeding 
crops in the roots that remain in the soil. 

5. In the density of foliage and consequent power 
of shading the soil, or inpaucity of foliage, thus leav- 
ing it exposed freely to the sun and air. 

234. Careful study of the above peculiarities of 
plants shows why a rotation of crops may be more 
profitable than planting the same crop continually; 
and it will suggest a desirable rotation to the intelli- 
gent farmer. 

235. The two most valuable plants for improving 
the fertihty of the soil, and, consequently, for inclu- 
sion in the rotation practiced on American farms are 
red clover, and the cow pea. The former is valuable 
over nearly the entire country; the latter, in the 
Southern States. Red clover and the cow pea are deep 
rooting plants, and have strong feeding powers. They 
shade the soil with a densely matted growth that will 
choke out weeds ; they furnish a large amount of 
either hay or ensilage of the best quality which is 
rich in both nutritive and manurial matters, and they 
leave in the soil for succeeding crops a large quantity 
of roots, rich in plant food. 

236. The cow pea, of which there are a number 
of varieties, has some advantages over the red clover 



ROTATION OF CROPS. 83 

on farms in the South. It will grow on poorer soil, 
and it makes full development in from four to six 
months ; consequently two crops can be grown during 
the year, and the growth may be cut for hay, pastured 
off by stock, or plowed under. The red clover is a 
biennial requiring two years to make full development 
in the northern half of the country. 

237. When either red clover or the cow pea is 
grown on land of average fertility: after cutting off 
the crop for hay the roots and stubbles on and in 
the soil contain as much nitrogen, potash, and phos- 
phoric acid that may become available to the succeed- 
ing crop as will be found in 300 to 600 pounds of 
cotton-seed meal, or one-fourth of a ton of a good 
standard fertilizer. In addition to supplying available 
plant-food to succeeding crops, the red clover and 
cow pea roots leave large quantities of organic 
matter in the soil, thereby improving its mechanical 
condition. 

238. A rotation that is found desirable in some of 
the Northern States runs five years : first year, corn ; 
second year, oats or barley ; third year, winter wheat, 
on which clover is planted in the spring ; fourth and 
fifth years, clover, or clover and timothy together. 

This rotation provides a clover sod to plant corn on, 
and insures a good crop of corn with a moderate 
amount of labor; while the sod, roots, etc., have time 
to become thoroughly broken up and decomposed, 



84 ROTATION OF CROPS. 

and the soil can be made clean for the succeeding 
grain crops. A four-year rotation may include only 
corn, wheat, and clover. 

239. In the Southern States, where red clover 
will grow, a five-year rotation might include: 1st year, 
corn ; 2d year, clover sowed on the corn stubble 
in the spring ; 3d year, clover, cutting first crop 
for hay, second for seed ; 4th year, oats, followed by 
cow peas as soon as the oats are harvested ; 5th year, 
cotton. Either the cotton or the oats may be left 
out and the rotation allowed to run but four years. 
Different rotations may be planned to suit the needs 
of the farmer. 

240. Other advantages of the diversified system 
of farming and the rotation of crops over the single 
crop system, are gained in having the work spread 
over the entire year, and in having less land planted 
to crops that require cultivation. With the farm 
work so arranged that one-third of the land will be 
planted to cultivated crops, one-third to hay and 
forage crops, and the remaining third set in pasture 
by carrying enough stock of some kind to consume 
all of the food grown on the farm, the cost of labor 
may be very much reduced and the fertility of the 
soil retained and even increased without materially 
decreasing the returns from crops grown and sold. 



85^. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Farm Live Stock. 

Origin. — Wild and Domestic Animals. — Wild state. — 
Natural Variation. — Race Qualities. — Pecidiari- 
ties of Breeds. — Bired Defined. — Formation of a 
Breed. — Impiwement. — Retention of Qualities. — 
Prepotency. — Hoiv to improve Common Stock. — 
Effect of Neglect. 

241. From the earliest times domestic animals, 
the live stock of the farm, have been used by man 
for various purposes. It is supposed that all of the 
domestic animals existed first as wild animals, but 
were caught and tamed as men found they could be 
made useful. 

242. Cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs that are be- 
lieved to be similar to the animals from which our 
present families of live stock have descended, are 
still found running wild in some parts of the world 
among half civilized tribes and semi-barbarous na- 
tions. The domestic animals seem to be interme- 
diate between the wild and the fully domesticated 
animals. 



86 FARM LIVE STOCK. 

243. The domestic animals, with the exception 
of the dog and cat, include only such as feed wholly 
or in part upon vegetable products. These animals 
have been so modified by domestication that they 
often possess qualities not found in the wild varieties 
of the same species. 

244. In the wild state animals simply have the 
power of securing a living and reproducing their 
kind. Under domestication they acquire new habits 
and the power of making some return in the way of 
work, flesh, milk, or wool in addition to the preser- 
vation of existence. The wild cow simply furnishes 
enough milk to rear her calf, but under domestication 
she is able to provide for her calf and supply milk 
for the use of man. The sheep has been made to 
produce heavy fleeces of wool, and the meat-produc- 
ing animals large quantities of meat. 

245. In a wild state animals are modified by food 
and climate. In a temperate climate, with food 
plentiful and easy to be secured, animals tend to in- 
crease rapidly, grow to large size, and are of a quiet 
disposition. In a cold climate, where food is scanty 
and not easy to be secured, animals grow slowly, 
are small, active, and hardy, and do not increase as 
rapidly as they would under more favorable condi- 
tions. 

246. The same effect is produced under domes- 
tication, and from the same causes where man does 



FARM LIVE STOCK. 8/ 

not counteract these influences by selection in breed- 
ing and varying the food and shelter supplied. 

247. The qualities of a race are the result of nat- 
ural influences, but the qualities of an improved 
breed are artificial, being developed only by special 
treatment. 

248. The difference in the breeds of families of 
domestic animals is due to the influence of man. By 
persistent and systematic treatment the characteris- 
tics of our breeds of stock may be changed to meet 
our wants. In this way have been produced the 
trotting and running horses, possessing wonderful 
speed ; the draft horse, with great strength and large 
size ; the Jersey cow, yielding from two to four 
pounds of butter per day ; the shorthorn, producing 
its great mass of flesh ; the merino sheep, a heavy 
fleece of the finest wool ; the remarkable intelligence 
of the hunting, shepherd, and watch dogs. 

249. These changes can be accomplished only by 
long-continued exertion on the part of man, and, 
when established, are retained only so long as the 
animal is subject to the same conditions under which 
they were produced. 

250. Turned out to run wild, the improved breeds 
of animals will lose their valuable acquired qualities, 
and deteriorate in a few generations to the condi- 
tion of the animals from which they descended. 



S8 FARM LIVE STOCK. 

251. Breed is the name given to a class of ani- 
mals that have acquired new and valuable qualities 
through the agency of man. Before any family of 
animals can properly be classed as a breed, they 
must have been bred by themselves until they are 
similar in shape, size, color, habits of growth, etc., 
and they must have these qualities so well fixe that 
they will be transmitted to the offspring with ci L^ood 
deal of certainty. Breeds are made by deciding 
upon the type of the animal to be produced ; second, 
by selecting such animals, male and female, as come 
nearest to this type, and breeding them together; 
third, by selecting such of the offspring as approach 
still nearer to the type, and rejecting all others. In 
addition to breeding from selected animals only, a 
system of feeding, training, and general care must 
be adopted that will help to develop and fix the 
quahties desired. 

252. Formation and improvement of any breed 
of animals should be sought, first, in the careful se- 
lection of the breeding stock. To enable one to 
make a proper selection requires a degree of skill 
and soundness of judgment, such as can only be at- 
tained by long experience in handling and caring for 
stock. Careful selection of the stock to breed from 
is necessary not only in the formation and improve- 
ment of the breed, but it must be kept up contin- 
ually after the breed is established to prevent deteri- 
oration and loss of qualities that have been secured 



FARM LIVE STOCK. 89, 

by a long and c ireful system of breeding. The im- 
provement in a breed being due to food and care 
as well as to selection in breeding, the improved 
breeds must have a more regular and better supply 
of food than is often thought necessary for common 
stock. The improvement made in the native animal 
in the formation of a breed consists of artificial qual- 
ities that have been developed under artificial condi- 
tions. The tendency of the animals thus formed is 
to breed back to the starting point whenever the 
conditions are removed under which the artificial 
qualities were produced. 

253. The older the breed, or, in other words, the 
longer the time during which a family of animals 
have been kept under the same conditions as regards 
selection in breeding and care, the more fixed will 
be the characteristics of the breed. Purely-bred an- 
imals of the well-established breeds will transmit 
their peculiarities to their offspring, even when a 
male or female of the pure breed is bred to an an- 
imal of a different kind that is not purely bred. 
This power of an animal to transmit the qualities 
possessed is called "prepotency," and it is one of 
the things that makes the improved breeds of so 
much value to the grower of common stock. 

254. The farmer may lack the skill and taste that 
is necessary to enable him to retain the good qual- 
ities possessed by an improved breed of stock, but 



go FARM LIVE STOCK. 

by the occasional purchase of pure-bred males to 
breed to his native or grade females, he may secure, 
to a considerable extent, the merits of the pure breed 
in the offspring produced, owing to the pure bred 
sire having greater prepotency than the inferior fe- 
male, and thereby impressing more of his peculiari- 
ties on the offspring than will be inherited from the 
dam. The purchase of one pure bred male will en- 
able the farmer to improve the offspring of a large 
number of inferior females. The improvement that 
can be secured in this way is so marked that the 
most intelligent class of farmers in the country will 
use only pure bred males if they can be procured by 
any reasonable expenditure of time and means. 

255. It has been stated that the longer the time 
that a breed has been purely bred the stronger will 
be the prepotency of the individuals of the breed. 
For this reason a grade, the offspring of a pure breed 
animal and a native, will not transmit his qualities 
with equal certainty to a pure bred animal, although 
he may in appearance, growth, etc. , closely resemble 
his pure bred sire. No greater mistake can be made 
than to select a male to breed from and judge him by 
his appearance without regard to the wpy in which he 
was bred. Yet the appearance of the animal is the 
one thing that governs the choice of a sire with too 
many farmers. All skillful stock breeders carefully 
examine the pedigree of animals selected for breed- 
ing purposes, and reject any animal not descended 



FARM LIVE STOCK. 9 1 

from well-bred ancestors without regard to his excel- 
lence as an individual. They have learned that in- 
dividual excellencies may be accidental, and are not 
apt to be transmitted, while qualities inherited from 
pure bred ancestors are almost certain to be im- 
pressed upon the offspring. 

256. In the improvement of common stock by 
the use of pure bred males, it must be remembered 
that the good qualities of the 'pure bred male are 
partly the result of extra food and care ; therefore, 
if the grade offspring are expected to develop and 
possess the qualities of the improved breed instead 
of the native, they must to some extent be supplied 
with the conditions that helped to make the im- 
proved breed. 

257. All of the large yielding varieties of plants 
require good soil and thorough cultivation ; and all 
of the large and rapid growing breeds of animals, 
and the cows that yield large quantities of milk and 
butter, are great eaters. Planted in fertile soil and 
supplied with plenty of food, the improved plant 
and the improved animal will make better returns for 
material consumed and labor required than the in- 
ferior varieties that flourish under less favorable con- 
ditions. The careless and indifferent farmer, who 
practices poor cultivation, and compels his stock to 
make their own living, will gain nothing in adopting 
either improved varieties of plants or improved 



92 FARM LIVE STOCK. 

breeds of stock. On the other hand, the thrifty 
and careful farmer can not afford to make such poor 
use of his time and opportunities as to expend them 
in growing and caring for an inferior class of stock 
that at the best will make but light returns. 



93 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Diversified Farming. 

Special Faruiing. — Diversified Farming. — Advantage 

of Diversified Farming. — WJien most Desirable. — 

Saving in Labor. — Cost of Plant Food. — Returns 

from Animal Products. — Cheap Sources of Plant 

Food. — Conchision . 

258. Farming, as generally practiced, may be 
classed either as special or as diversified farming. The 
former means devoting the farm to one or two crops ; 
the latter, to a variety of crops. The cotton planta- 
tion of the Southern States, where cotton and corn 
are often the exclusive crops, and the wheat farms of 
the Northwest, that are planted entirely to wheat, are 
examples of special farming. 

259. Diversified farming as generally understood 
means growing several crops, and also stock of some 
kind to convert a portion of them into animal pro- 
ducts, such as butter, meat, wool, etc , that may have 
a higher market value than the crops would sell for 
and at the same time furnish manure. 

260. A variety of opinions is found to exist among 
the most intelligent and successful farmers as to which 



94 DIVERSIFIED FARMING. 

system is preferable. It is held by some men that 
the diversified system should always be practiced, 
although they may not agree as to the extent of the 
diversification ; while others claim that a farm devoted 
to a specialty, can be conducted with greater economy 
and more profit than if the labor of the farm is 
diverted in several directions. Some agricultural 
writers advocate combining the two systems in such a 
way as to make some one product a specialty, devot- 
ing to it the main energy of the farm with the expec- 
tation of deriving from this product the cash income 
of the business, while at the same time they advise 
us to practice diversified cropping to the extent of 
supplying the farm with renovating crops, food 
crops, and manure. 

261. Some of the advantages that maybe derived 
from the alternation of crops have been shown in 
chapter XVII. 

It may be found, however, that in some localities 
all of the benefits to be secured from rotation and 
diversity of crops may be secured in a more econo- 
mical way and the farm made more profitable by 
confining the work to special crops. Such may be, 
and often is, the case on high-priced land near cities, 
from which garden truck may be easily sent to market 
and where the rental value of the land makes it 
cheaper to buy manure to supply plant food to the 
soil than to resort to restorative crops. 



DIVERSIFIED FARMING. 95 

The same may be true on new and highly produc- 
tive soil, such as is sometimes found in rich river 
bottoms and prairie lands that are specially adapted 
to growing some crop commanding a high price in 
the market, and also on lands where labor can be 
secured whenever it is required. 

262. Diversified farming is generally desirable on 
land that has been under cultivation for a long time, 
and especially so on light soils. Where a variety of 
crops are grown, the preparation of the land for plant- 
ing, the cultivation, and the harvesting occur at dif- 
ferent seasons of the year, thereby giving steady em- 
ployment to a regular number of men and teams. 
When combined with stock growing, a home market 
is provided for the consumption of the heavier and 
coarser products of the farm that are costly to trans- 
port to market. 

263. Of still greater importance in the economy 
of the farm is the low cost of plant food that may be 
supplied by diversified farming and stock growing, 
and the amount of land that may be made profitably 
productive in proportion to the expenditure for labor. 

264. If the larger part of the farm is planted to 
corn, cotton, and other crops that require cultivation, 
the work of one man and team will be expended on a 
small era of ground, and after the virgin fertility of 
the soil is partially exhausted, fertilizing material 
must be procured from some outside source to supply 



g6 DIVERSIFIED FARMING. 

the plant food required to produce a profitable crop. 
If, instead of cultivating so much land, one-half of the 
farm is utilized for pasture, hay, and grain crops, the 
labor will be much less, the forage may be converted 
into animal products and manure, and the fertilizers 
required from outside sources to prevent exhaustion 
of the soil largely curtailed in amount. 

265. By contracting the area of cultivated crops 
still further, turning say, one-third- or even one-half 
of the farm into pasture, and planting one-half of the 
remainder in hay and forage crops, and the remaining 
portion in cultivated crops, and by increasing at the 
same time the number of stock to the extent of con- 
suming all the food that the farm will supply, the 
cost of labor may be still further reduced and suffi- 
cient fertilizing material to prevent deterioration of 
the land supplied from the farm. 

266. Owing to the fact that an acre of land may 
be made to make as large a return by growing a crop 
that may be converted into beef, milk, or other 
animal product, and selling these, as by growing a sale 
crop — counting the cost of labor and rental value of 
the land on the average farm. The advantages of 
growing feed crops over growing exclusively sale 
crops are evident when we remember that under the 
former plan the land will increase in productiveness, 
if the manure made is returned to the soil, while in 
growing sale crops, it must deteriorate, unless we 



DIVERSIFIED FARMING. 97 

resort to the purchase of fertiHzers that are not made 
on the farm. 

267. The productiveness of the soil of the farm 
may often be increased by purchasing concentrated 
foods that are rich in nitrogen, phosphates, and 
potash, and by feeding to stock. 

268. Such feed stuffs as cotton seed, cotton seed 
meal, linseed meal, wheat bran, glucose meal and the 
by-products of distilleries, malt houses, and the hke,* 
as well as some of the cereals, are rich in both nutri- 
tive and manurial matter. Some of the above or 
similar feed stuffs can be purchased in almost any 
part of the country at a cost that will enable the 
farmer to convert them into animal products at a 
profit, and add largely to the supply of manure at the 
same time. 

269. It often happens that a concentrated food 
may be purchased so much below its value for fertili- 
zing purposes that the manure resulting from its con- 
sumption will be worth more than the cost of the 
food, while at the same time the food will more than 
pay for its cost in animal products. For the reason 
set forth, the shrewdest farmers of England and 
America prefer to purchase concenti;:ated foods to 
feed to stock for the purpose of enriching their lands, 
rather than to buy the commercial fertilizers. 

270. To reap all the advantages of diversified 
farming, the farmer should include the pasturing of 



98 DIVERSIFIED FARMING. 

stock and the growing of hay crops to reduce the 
labor of the farm ; the alternation of crops, to secure 
the benefits of rotation and renovation of the soil 
from the root-growth of certain plants, and the pur- 
chase of concentrated feed stuffs to enable him to 
carry more stock and make more manure. 



99 



CHAPTER XX. 

Food and Manure Value of Farm Products. 

Nutritive Value. — What Food is Converted Into. — 
Digestibility. — Afumal Waste. — Value of some 
Knowledge of Chemistry. — Selling Fertility. — 
Farming by Ride. — Effect of Feeding the Crop 
Grown on the Farm. — Table of Manure- Value of 
Feeding Stuffs. — Losses in Feeding. — Market 
Value vs. Feeding Value. — Value of Pemanent 
Meadows and Pastures. 

271. The several products of the farm have a 
double value; first to supply nutrients to support 
animal life ; second, to supply plant food to the soil. 
The nutritive value of any farm product is determined 
by its composition and the digestibility of the materials 
of which it is composed. 

272. Starch, fat and other combinations of 
oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, in the food, are con- 
verted into animal heat, muscular force, and fat; the 
nitrogenous portion, into lean meat, skin, hair, gela- 
tine of the bony tissues, and with all parts of the ani- 
mal containing nitrogen ; the ash elements of the food 
into bone and into the ash element found in the dif- 



lOO FOOD AND MANURE VALUE OF FARM PRODUCTS. 

ferent parts of the body. The food eaten is not all 
digested and assimilated, a portion, varying from ten 
to seventy per cent, passing through the animal as 
inert matter, and appearing in the solid excrements. 

273. The different parts of the body of the living 
animal are constantly wasting away, while at the same 
time they are being built up again from material sup- 
plied by the food. 

With the exception of the carbon, oxygen, and 
hydrogen of the food, the waste material of the body, 
including the undigested food, is thrown off in the 
solid and liquid manure, unless the animal is giving 
milk. From the above statement it will be seen that 
all the portion of the food consumed by the animal 
which is valuable for manure is either stored up in 
the body, converted into milk or it is excreted as solid 
and hquid manure.* 

274. To enable the farmer to grow and feed crops 
in such a manner as to secure the largest returns and 
at the same time retain fertility on the farm, for his 
labor, some knowledge of chemistry is required, that 
he may know what he should feed and what he may 
sell. As a general rule no crop valuable for feeding 
and at the same time containing considerable matter 
valuable for fertilizing purposes should be sold, unless 



-Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are supplied to the plant from the atmos- 
phere ; hence are not necessary in the manure. 



FOOD AND MANURE VALUE OF FARM PRODUCTS. 10 1 

it will sell for a price exceeding the cost of some other 
food stuff that contains a still larger amount of ferti- 
lizing material. Again, no sale crop should be grown 
and sold continually that removes considerable quanti- 
ties of nitrogen, phosphates, and potash, unless an 
equivalent of these substances can be returned to the 
farm from some cheaper source, either in feed stuffs 
or in fertilizers. 

275. Drawing fertility from the land to be sold in 
the crop, and purchasing fertiHzing material from 
outside sources to supply the loss can hardly be 
compared to depositing money in a bank and check- 
ing it out again ; for in the former case it is impossible 
to strike a balance-sheet to learn how the account 
stands. We have no means of ascertaining the 
amount and value of the original deposit, nor can we 
estimate the losses that may occur through the wash- 
ing out of available plant food, atmospheric dissipa- 
tion of gaseous matter or the accremutation of 
nitrogen from the atmosphere. These gains and 
losses are influenced to so great an extent by the 
peculiarities of the season, rainfall, temperature, 
system of cultivation, chemical changes taking place 
in the soil, and difference in the soil, that we can not 
determine the exact condition of the land at any 
one time, nor can we control, except partially, the 
changes liable to occur. 

276. While our present knowledge will not enable 



102 FOOD AND MANURE VALUE OF FARM PRODUCTS. 

US to farm by rule, practical experience and scientific 
investigation have conclusively demonstrated certain 
general rules that may be modified by a thoughtful 
man to fit most cases We find, almost without 
exception, in growing crops which contain large 
quantities of the valuable manurial elements referred 
to through this book, that selling these crops and 
making no return to the soil, will in a few years, 
reduce the productive capacity of the land to the 
extent of making the land unprofitable to cultivate. 
Again, we find that when the mechanical condition 
of the soil is right, and the requisite amount of water 
is supplied, it may be made highly productive, no mat- 
ter how poor, if the chemical constituents of the crop 
are added in sufficient quantity and in available form. 

277. Practical experience has also shown that 
where the larger part of the crops grown on the farm 
are fed to stock and the manure is saved and applied 
to the land, the farm gains fertility and increases in 
productiveness, and scientific investigations explain 
why these results follow and they suggest how farm- 
ing may be conducted so as to secure the best results. 
Tables are published in our argricultural journals, and 
in books by various authors which treat of agricultural 
subjects, giving the composition of all farm crops, and 
of the commercial products sold for feeding purposes, 
and for fertilizers 

278. The following table gives the average 



FOOD AND MANURE VALUE OF FARM PRODUCTS. IO3 

amount of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, 
found in some of the farm products common to the 
country, and in a few of the concentrated feed-stuffs 
offered for sale in our markets, with their manurial 
values. The nitrogen is estimated at 16 cents ; potash 
5 cents ; and phosphoric acid at 7J cents per pound. 

Table showing the average of nitrogen, pJiospJioric acid, 

and potash, found in one ton each of some of 

the common feeding stiiffs. 



Clover Hay 

Timothy Hay 

Corn Enselage 

Corn Stalks 

Oat Straw 

Wheat Straw 

Cow-pea Vines 

Cow-peas 

Corn (Maize) 

Oats 

Sorghum Seed 

Corn and Cob Meal 
Wheat Middlings ... 

Wheat Bran 

Gluten Meal 

Linseed Meal 

Cotton-seed Meal... 
Cotton-seed Hulls.. 
Turnips 



Nitrogen, 
lbs. 


Phosphoric 

Acid. 

lbs. 


Potash, 
lbs. 


39.4 


11.2 


39. 


19.2 

4.8 


7.2 
2.2 


29.6 

7.8 


13.2 


7.8 


17.2 


10. 


5. 


20 8 


9.6 


52 


11.6 


50.2 


82 


28.0 


66.4 


20.2 


20 2 


33.8 


14.2 


8.0 


412 

28.4 


12.4 
16.2 


9.0 
6.6 


22.9 
41.4 


10.9 
25.2 


9.2 
13.4 


47.4 


60.2 


32.0 


948 


90. 


1.2 


95. 
134 6 

7.0 


39.2 
60.6 

18 


29.4 
35.8 
26.4 


4.2 


1.6 


5.8 



Value. 
%. cts. 

919 

5.09 

1.32 

3.55 

3.01 

2.50 

10.05 

13.14 

6.87 

7.96 

6.09 

4 94 

9.18 

13.69 

15.90 

19.61 

27.87 

2.57 

1.08 



I04 FOOD AND MANURE VALUE OF FARM PRODUCTS. 

279. The value given in the above table may not 
represent the actual value of the several substances 
for manure, but they do represent approximately 
their value, compared with the commercial fertilizers 
sold in our markets. In other words the values are 
determined in the same way. 

280. In feeding a certain amount of clover, hay, 
oats, corn, cotton-seed meal, or other feed stuffs to 
farm stock, it is estimated that from 60 per cent, to 
90 per cent, of the fertilizing value of the food may 
be secured in the manure if it is protected from loss. 
It follows therefore that a feed stuff or farm product 
may, at times, have a higher value for manure when 
fed to stock than it will sell for in the market, in 
addition to its actual food value. We notice that 
timothy hay is worth but little more than one-half as 
much as clover hay for manure, yet timothy generally 
commands .from 25 per cent, to 40 per cent, more per 
ton in the markets. Straw has a low manure value, 
yet it often sells as high as clover hay. Corn has a 
moderate manure value while cotton-seed meal and 
linseed meal have high values. Fed in the right way 
the cotton-seed and linseed meals are worth nearly 
twice a much, pound for pound, as corn for stock 
feed, yet in some sections of the country these meals 
cost but little more per ton than corn. 

281. A careful study of the food, manure, and 
market values of crops grown, and feed stuffs that 



FOOD AND MANURE VALUE OF FARM PRODUCTS IO5 

can be bought, will often enable the farmer to sell 
some portion of his crop and with the return purchase 
its equivalent in food value, often more, and at the 
same time get double the manure value in the mate- 
rial purchased. 

282. During the winter season in many places in 
the Southern States, a bushel of corn can be ex- 
changed for cotton-seed, which will contain not less 
than three three times its equivalent in cattle food, 
and four times its value for manure.* 

283. The practice of selling large quantities of hay 
from a farm is not to be commended, unless some 
means are taken to replace the loss of plant food. If, 
however, cotton-seed meal, wheat bran, or any feed- 
ing stuff rich in plant food is purchased and consumed, 
a portion of the farm may be converted into permanent 
meadow, and the hay sold without injury to the place. 
Meadow lands become impoverishd as readily as land 
under cultivation ; hence, if it is desired to make the 
meadow permanently productive, the soil must be 
enriched the same as for cultivated crops. Permanent 
meadows and permanent pastures, well set in valuable 
perennial grasses, may often be made even more 
profitable than land nnder cultivation, as there is but 



- In feeding milk cows and fattening cattle, our experiments at the College 
show that one pound of corn is equivalent in food value to not more than two 
and one-fourth pounds of cotton-seed. During the winters of 1884—5—6, we 
have sold corn at an average price of $20.00 per ton, and bought cotton-seed 
at $6.00 per ton.— /^. A. Gulley, Agricultural College, Miss. 



I06 FOOD AND MANURE VALUE OF FARM PRODUCTS. 

a small expenditure for labor. With the outfit of 
haying implements the entire labor on one acre of 
good meadow in growing and harvesting a crop of 
two and one-half tons of hay, may not cost more than 
from three to four dollars. The actual cost of cutting 
and storing hay is sometimes reduced to one dollar 
per ton with hay worth from $8.00 to $14.00 per ton. 
The cost of production in proportion to the value of 
the crop is less than with almost any crop that can be 
grown. 

283. Pasturing land economizes labor to a greater 
extent than growing hay. With this crop there is no 
outlay for harvesting. The crop is put into condensed 
form for marketing by being converted into animal 
products, and even the manure from the consumption 
of the crop is returned to the land without expense. 
Pasturing land is the most economical method of 
making it productive ; and, properly managed, the 
soil (unlike cultivated land) improves with use. The 
value of a good pasture is not so generally appreciated 
in America as in the older countries. In England the 
pasture lands command the highest rents, because the 
farmer has learned that grazing lands may be made to 
yield a greater return than the lands under tillage. 














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